Danny Phantom Legacies Season 1
by AlexDuhGhost
Summary: Season one of my fan-made series! This is my own continuation of the Danny Phantom series, created by Butch Hartman, with a few of my own created characters. Will not be posted here. Keep of with SGTSecor @DeviantArt to keep up with the up-coming comic!
1. Mystery Meet 1

**_Like I said in the description, Butch Hartman created Danny Phantom. Not me. I also do not own Danny Phantom. The cartoon is owned by Nickelodeon._**

 ** _Now here's what I couldn't put in the description (cause there wasn't enough room). This is my own continuation with some new characters I created. However the episode "Kindred Spirits" never happened in this series. So sorry people, but Dani will not be in this story. She is replaced by someone else. To avoid confusion, I will tell you all that the first Episode of this series replaces the first episode of Season 3 of the real Danny Phantom show, which was "Eye for an Eye."_**

 ** _So now that I got that out of the way, Enjoy!_**

"Did you finish your science project?"

"No."

"What about that poetry assignment?"

"Nope."

"History questions?"

"What do you think?" Danny paused, hand halfway into his locker, looking back at Tucker.

"No?"

"No." Danny nodded and grabbed the books he'd need for his morning classes.

"Who was it this time?" Sam asked, holding Danny's backpack open for him as he dumped the books inside.

"Skulker got a few new upgrades for his suit, which he decided to test out on me, and Johnny made Kitty mad again, so I had to deal with both of them. Then the Box Ghost decided he might want to add cylindrical containers to his arsenal of doom, and released all the ghost that were inside." Danny sighed and slammed his locker shut. "I had to spend the rest of the night hunting them all down again. There were two days' worth of ghost in there! Not to mention the Red Huntress thought it would be a good time to make an appearance."

Danny grabbed is backpack from Sam and slung it over his shoulder.

"Dude, we could have helped you, why didn't you call us?" Tucker asked, checking his PDA for the most recent list of caught ghosts to see just who Danny had to recapture last night.

"The same reason I'm going to get three detentions today. Our schoolwork. I'm the one that told you guys I could handle a night on my own so you could get your own homework done." They headed off down the hall, paying little attention to the conversations going on around them.

"Hey, look on the bright side! You're actually on time for once." Tucker grinned, trying his best to cheer Danny up.

"Yeah, but he doesn't have any of his work done. You should have called us, then we could have worked on everything together," Sam said as they stopped next to Tucker's locker.

"Ew, losers. Let's go." The trio of friends turned to see Paulina and her satellite looking at them in disgust.

"Come on, I want to find Alan and invite him to my party." Paulina gave them one more contemptible glare, more so to Sam than Tucker and Danny, before walking away with Star just behind her. Sam's glare followed the Latina as she disappeared in the crowd of students, while Danny listened to the conversations going on around them.

Most of which, he realized, were centered on the boy Paulina had just mentioned.

"Have you guys met Alan?" Danny asked.

"He's the new A-lister, right? He hasn't even been at school that long, but he's already one of the most popular guys in here!" Tucker flipped through various files on his PDA, pulling up a graph on the popularity of Casper High students. Alan's name was just below Dash and Paulina.

"I think I have a class with him, but really I'd rather not think about the A-listers. They're all arrogant and full of themselves." Sam scowled.

"Yeah." Danny listened in on a few more conversations. "Hopefully he'll be as oblivious as them."

"Kind of like you?" Tucker teased.

"What does that mean?" Danny asked while Sam subtly stomped on Tucker's foot.

"That you're oblivious to how obvious you can be?"

Sam nodded to Tucker behind Danny's back. "Some people have noticed that you always disappear around ghost attacks. You're lucky everyone else is so oblivious, but that doesn't mean you have to be. You still need to be careful," Sam chided.

"As soon as I can successfully make a duplicate, I'll get right one that. It'd be great to be able to fight ghosts and be in class at the same time." Danny shut Tucker's locker for him as the techno-geek shouldered his own backpack, and they made their way to their first class. It was a blessed reprieve for Danny to actually sit down before the bell. Well, at the same time it rang, technically. But either way, he was on time for class.

"Anyways, what are you thinking about Alan? Not everything has to be ghost related, you know," Sam said when the bell finished ringing.

"I don't know, we live in Amity Park, fight ghosts every day. If something strange is going on, it's usually ghost related." Danny frowned, sliding down in his seat.

"Man, you sound like your parents. He's a popular rich kid, he probably has popular rich kid things to do." Tucker shrugged. Danny nodded absently, eyes on the door to classroom. His brow furrowed as a boy with dark hair walked passed, smiling and waving when he saw Danny watching.

"Yeah, maybe."

 **###**

When the bell signaling the end of the day finally went, Danny sighed in relief, slipping out of his seat and rushing to meet Sam and Tucker, who he didn't share his final class with, at the front of the school. Danny grinned when he heard their conversation.

"Eating nothing but meat all your life is extremely unhealthy."

"Eating only that gross green stuff is! You have to take those supplements all the time."

"You do know that the lettuce on those triple meaty Nasty burgers are vegetables, right?"

"That doesn't count!"

"Yes it does, and - oh, hey Danny. No detention?" The halfa couldn't help but laugh.

"Luckily, no. No strong ghosts attacked today, so I didn't end up being late for any of my classes. Lancer even gave me an extension on that English project."

"Sweet, should we get a Nasty Burger to celebrate?" Tucker grinned in Sam's direction, gloating at her less than impressed expression at the mention of the fast food place.

"Sure." Danny nodded, and he looked to Sam for her choice. "Come on, Sam. I'll even pay for your salad."

"You don't have to do that Danny, I'll go anyways, and prove to Tucker that lettuce on a burger does count." Sam raised an eyebrow when Danny picked up her backpack. "You don't have to do that."

"But I will," Danny smiled back.

Tucker coughed. "Lovebirds."

"We are not lovebirds!" Danny and Sam predictably chorused, both of them rounding on the techno-geek.

"Um…."

Danny was the first to see the boy standing behind them, at the foot of the stairs. He had dark brown hair, and was smiling nervously at them.

"Hi, I'm Alan," the boy said kind of shyly, still smiling.

"We know," Sam said warily.

"You're in my geography class, right?" Alan asked.

"Yes." Sam nodded.

"This isn't the best location to do this, you know. The lockers are inside," Danny said, pointing his thumb over his shoulder.

"Uh...what?" Alan, who had been walking up the stairs, paused.

"Well, you're an A-lister, and you approached us, which means Danny here gets to practice his contortionism," Tucker explained, a little confused that Alan hadn't tried anything yet.

"I knew today was going too well, especially after the night I had," Danny sighed. "Here, let me help you. I'll even go inside and open a locker so half the work will be done."

"I uhh...just wanted to say hi," Alan defended himself.

"Right. It's kind of what you A-listers do, isn't it? Stuff losers like us-"

"I'm a geek, not a loser!"

"-into lockers, then go to some party at Dash's or Paulina's place." Danny glared at Alan, not at all liking how innocent he was pretending to be.

"I'm not like that. I'm still new, you know? Haven't been in Amity very long, besides Paulina, who was the first person to talk to me, I don't really know anyone else." Alan shook his head, but the trio wouldn't believe it. They had too many bad experiences with A-listers.

"Sorry, man, not falling for it," Tucker scoffed.

"Danny, forget about it, let's just go to Nasty Burger," Sam urged.

 **###**

Danny shuffled into school, head down, a wide yawn splitting his face.

"I don't think I'll ever get a full night's sleep again," Danny mumbled as he stopped next to Sam and Tucker.

"Don't forget the homework!" Tucker piped up with a grin on his face. Danny groaned again as he reached into his backpack, hand groping for the papers he knew he would find shoved at the bottom beneath his textbooks and notebooks.

"Did you finish this time?" Sam asked.

"Almost. I should at least get a fifty on it," Danny answered as he pulled the latest sheet of math questions out of his purple bag.

"Dude, that's if you got them all right," Tucker pointed out.

"Thanks, Tuck. As if I wasn't worried enough already." Danny shot a quick glare at his best friend. "Sam, can I at least compare my stuff to yours so I know what I got right?"

"Sure." Sam rummaged through her own spider backpack and pulled out her homework while they walked down the hall.

"Are you going to copy the answers?" Tucker asked, peering at Sam's sheet to compare it to his own answers.

"No. I'm just going to see if I got any questions I did answer wrong, and then try and fix them myself," Danny answered with his head down, eyes flitting between the two papers in his hand, groaning slightly whenever he found a question he'd answered wrong. The moment Danny had sat down at his desk, he pulled out a pencil and started reworking the wrong questions while using the precious minutes he had before class started to answer a few more. While doing this, he shoved Sam's homework back towards her, insisting that he didn't want to cheat.

Sam took it back without complaint while Tucker leaned back in his own seat on Danny's left.

"Dude, just think, don't you sometimes wish-"

"Tucker, no!" Danny suddenly shouted, jumping to his feet and lunging across the aisle to press his hand over Tucker's mouth. This effectively quelled the rest of his best friend's sentence, and also caused a few heads to turn in their direction. Danny's ears burned as he sat back down to a chorus of snickers and taunts courtesy of the jocks at the front of the class.

"She's the last person I want to deal with right now," Danny huffed, turning back to his school work.

"You can't exactly stop everyone anytime they're going to say the words I- uh, those words," Tucker chuckled when Danny glared at him again.

"I can try," Danny mumbled, then sighed when their math teacher walked in and called for last night's homework to be handed in up front. He slid out of his desk, trudged up the aisle, and dropped the unfinished worksheet onto the growing pile.

"At least no one else seems to say it." Tucker shrugged, trying to be helpful, but this just caused Sam and Danny to groan. "What?"

"Bad Luck Tuck, you just jinxed it," Sam taunted while Danny pressed his head against his desk.

By some miracle, they managed to last for the entire first period before the jinx took effect. They were walking through the crowded halls in the middle of a class change when the disgruntled voice of a student shouted over the tumult of noise.

"I wish!" Was the only thing said, but it was enough. Farther down the hall, there was a swirl of green smoke, and Desiree appeared floating above the students, who promptly started to scream and run away. Tucker grinned sheepishly at Danny, who immediately ran into the closest janitor's closet while Desiree shouted her familiar catchphrase.

"So you have wished it, so shall it be!" Just as she finished, lockers started breaking free from the walls, sprouting arms and legs, and chased the resident bullies. Anyone they captured would be hoisted into their surprisingly strong arms, and promptly stuffed inside. Needless to say, it was chaos when Danny Phantom arrive. Rogue lockers were running through the screaming throngs of students, diving every which way to get a hold of their intended targets, while Desiree laughed above the chaos.

"Desiree!" Danny shouted, catching the genie's attention. He flew forwards to attack her, but was stopped by a wall of sentient lockers. Danny pivoted, avoiding their outstretched arms, while sending ecto-blasts in their directions. The lockers were thrown back, dented and burned beyond repair, and they stayed immobile on the floor, limbs flailing as they tried to rise from flat backs. Tucker, who was offering no assistance whatsoever, laughed at the spectacle from the side of the hall.

His way now clear, Danny returned his focus to the cause of the mess and once again flew towards Desiree, sending a powerful ectoblast in her direction. She dodged it easily and flung her arms out. A soft glow surrounded several of the lockers lining the hall before her, and they too separated from the wall, creaking and groaning as they lunged for Danny. He was forced to abandon his pursuit of the genie in exchange for protecting the still lingering students who had noticed Danny Phantom fighting, and wanted to cheer their hero on. They were forced back by Tucker until it was only the trio, the lockers, and Desiree standing in the hall.

"Danny, the wish!" Sam shouted, reminding the halfa of the only sure-fire way to defeat the famed genie.

"Oh yeah!" Danny grinned and punched the nearest locker, breaking through their ranks. "Desiree, I wish…"

But Desiree was gone. Danny blinked at the spot she had last occupied, but wasn't able to remain that way for long. One of the sentient lockers had managed to sneak up on him and pinned his arms to his side. He yelped as he was unceremoniously stuffed inside of the locker.

"Danny!" He heard his friends shout. There were several moments where all he heard was the scuff of sneakers, banging of locker doors, and the unmistakable sucking noise of the Fenton Thermos. Then, Danny felt the sensation of falling backwards, and his head thudded against the inside of the locker as it toppled to the floor. The door swung open, and Tucker helped Danny out of it while Sam sucked it into the Fenton Thermos.

"Great, both jocks and ghosts want to stuff me in lockers," Danny grumbled, rubbing the sore spot on his head. "Did you guys see where Desiree went?"

"No, she just disappeared," Sam shook her head while Danny changed back into his human form, settling into the poor posture that always accompanied his human half.

"Now I know I'm just going to have to fight her again later tonight." Danny looked around the hall, and the empty spaces where all the lockers that were now trapped inside the thermos had been. "Aw, man! One of those was my locker!"

"Maybe they'll give you Poindexter's locker again," Tucker suggested, sighing in relief when he saw that his own locker was still stuck firmly to the wall.

"The mirror is broken now anyways, it wouldn't matter," Sam pointed out.

"Doesn't mean he isn't still haunting it." he shrugged.

"I really hope not. Knowing my luck, he'd probably try to take me over again." Danny returned to the janitor's closet he had earlier commandeered and retrieved his abandoned backpack.

 **###**

"So what are you going to do about Desiree?" Sam asked while she picked at her salad.

"I don't know. I looked around for her a little after school, but couldn't find her. Plus, she was too quick to run away during our fight."

"I think she just knows not to stick around long enough for you to make the wish," Tucker said through his mouthful of Mighty Meaty burger.

"We need a plan, for next time." Danny nodded in agreement, staring down at his own burger. The trio was currently sitting at the Nasty Burger, having been let out of school a little over an hour ago, and met up here not too long ago. Luckily, since there was football and cheerleading practice tonight, the restaurant was devoid of A-listers.

"The biggest problem you have is trying to deal with her creations," Sam reasoned, recalling past fights against Desiree. "They're too big of a distraction, and give her time to get away while you're busy fighting them."

"So, next time, you guys deal with the annoying wishes, and I deal with Desiree?" Danny asked.

"Pretty much."

"Hey! I didn't agree to that!" Tucker protested.

"But you'll do it," Sam said sternly, and Tucker hastily nodded, fearing another bruise would be added to the growing collection on his shins.

"But how are you going to find her? You can't exactly just wait around for someone to make a wish."

"We don't have to." Sam smirked, staring intently at Tucker, who did not like that look at all.

"There's really no better way to do this?" Tucker shouted up at the tree-tops. Sam and Danny, in his ghost form, were perched invisible among the tree branches, waiting to instigate their plan, while Tucker stood in the clearing below. The sun was low now, and they were in the middle of the park, where there would be fewer people to get caught up in the fight.

"Sorry, Tuck. It's your bad luck that got us into this mess," Sam taunted somewhere from above. The techno-geek glared aimlessly into the leaves, searching for any sign of the two invisible figures he knew were somewhere over his head.

"Fine, but you owe me a Triple Meaty Cheesy Melt!" Tucker declared, pointing to the sky. Sam grimaced in disgust, but agreed.

"Yes!" Tucker pumped his fist, then looked around the clearing. "So, I just say it?"

"If she's still in Amity, she'll hear it," Danny confirmed.

"Okay… hey, wait, if that's true, why don't you just wish from here?"

"Tried that. It doesn't work some reason, probably because it needs her presence and direct involvement to actually work. Come on, Tuck. I'm already late for curfew."

"Okay, okay! I wish I had the new PDA XL 5!" Tucker shouted to the sky.

"That's really his wish?" Sam whispered to Danny.

"It's not like it can cause a lot of damage," Danny shrugged, and they waited. A moment later, there was a puff of green smoke, and Desiree appeared. She smiled at Tucker, and the PDA he requested appeared in her hands.

Tucker practically squealed and jumped for the device, his role in their plan all but forgotten, while Sam and Danny waited for the perfect moment to descend. Tucker's hands closed around the device and his fingers immediately started flying across the button until they suddenly stilled and he dropped to his knees.

"Ah!" Tucker cried out in pain, and Sam and Danny, forgoing their secrecy, jumped out of the tree and ran to his side.

"Tucker!" They shouted, kneeling beside their shocked friend. His wide eyes were fixed on the screen of the PDA. Danny's eyes flashed, and he spun around to face Desiree, who was grinning wildly. He launched several ecto-blasts that she was forced to evade. Just as Danny was about to wish her away, Sam called for him.

"He's not talking to me!" Sam said, her voice laced with panic. Danny, more worried for his friend then the ghost in front of him, immediately abandoned the fight and rushed to Tucker's side. Desiree, still laughing, flew away.

"Tucker? Hey, Tuck, say something!" Danny grabbed the techno-geeks shoulder and started to shake him. The abrupt action seemed to work, and as he swayed, Tucker blinked and his eyes became focused again.

"Wah?"

"Tucker, what happened?" Danny asked, immediately checking his best friend's hands for any sign of injury. Tucker looked at him blankly for a moment, then back to the PDA in his hands. He pointed at the screen.

"It doesn't work."

Danny's hands stilled, and his eyes met Sam's, both sharing a look of disbelief.

"What was that?" Sam asked, although no clarification was needed.

"The PDA, it doesn't work."

The halfa and the Goth glared at the techno-geek, and Sam swiftly punched him in the shoulder.

"Hey, what was that for?" Tucker asked, holding a hand to the former bruise.

"We thought you were hurt! We finally had Desiree, without any minions even, but Danny couldn't fight her because we were worried about you!" Sam shouted.

"Oh… sorry?"

"Ugh, never mind." Sam shook her head. "We'll just have to try again tomorrow."

"Will I still be the bait?" Tucker asked, a slight whimper in his voice.

"Yeah, you'll still be the bait," Sam and Danny agreed.

 **###**

Mr. Lancer's English class was, as usual, boring for all who attended. The overweight teacher himself was tempted to just stop his lecture, drop into his chair and fall asleep. Maybe not even go through all that effort. He might just lean his head against the chalkboard and close his eyes. But he was a teacher, and he wouldn't do that.

"This is so boring!" A certain Latina at the back of the class moaned, voicing everyone's thoughts. However, Danny thought her next words were a poor choice. "I wish something interesting would happen!"

A wisp of blue mist poured out of Danny's mouth as a lilting voice echoed around the room. "So you have wished it, so shall it be!"

Books and papers around the rooms started to morph into small green ghosts, and when the students all jumped out of their desks, screaming, those too changed. Identical phenomenon was occurring all around the school and the students of Casper High, in a panic despite their continuous contact with ghosts, poured into the halls and out the school doors. During this chaos, no one noticed a certain trio disappear into a janitor's closet. A bright light could momentarily be seen under the door, and Danny Phantom emerged into a mostly empty hallway (minus the small green terrors) with Sam Manson and Tucker Foley behind him.

"You guys take care of these ghosts inside, while I get Desiree!" Danny instructed. Sam and Tucker nodded, reaching for their Fenton Thermoses, and the bounded down the hall in opposite directions. Danny shot off a few ecto-blasts at the nuisances around him before flying up through the ceiling to hover above the school. He was scanning the sky for the genie he had faced before, preparing the wish that would inevitably defeat her and rid the school of her creations, when he saw the other ghost.

In a single word, it could be described as blue. His skin was tinged a like blue, and his hair (also blue, but a shiny, baby-blue color), which looked a little frozen, was spiked upright. He wore a jumpsuit sort of like Danny's but it was all dark gray and fell loosely around the ghost's frame, no doubt because it was too baggy. He didn't have a belt like Danny does though. His boots were the same as Danny's but they were light blue and didn't have his pants tucked into them. His white gloves were also similar to Danny's but were also loose on him. If the situation weren't so serious, Danny may have laughed at the fact that the ghost had a cape around his collar, which was also had the same color as his boots. He didn't really want to admit that the ghost looked kind of cool in it.

Danny hesitated a moment, unsure of what to do with this unfamiliar ghost, and was surprised when it bee-lined for the genie flying above the parking lot. Danny was impressed when the ghost spun around and delivered a powerful kick to her side when he reached her, and decided to wait and see what would happen before interrupting the fight. Who knew, maybe this new ghost would be good.

Desiree, taken by surprise, flew through the air and collided with one of the stationary cars below. She growled and spun around, no doubt excepting Danny himself to be floating in the sky, the usual smug grin on his. The expression on Desiree's face when she saw the new ghost was priceless.

"You're not the ghost boy!" Desiree gasped in her usual loud voice.

"Well, not the ghost boy, although I am a boy, and I am a ghost." The blue ghost gave her a smile and giggled a bit. "But, could you please stop this? I don't really want to fight you."

"Any wish that I hear will be granted! You will not stop me!" Desiree cried.

The blue ghost sighed and got serious. He then thrusted his hand out and a powerful ecto-blast shot out towards Desiree.

Desiree just barely dodged the attack and let out a cry of outrage. With a swing of her arms the minions she had created converged on the blue ghost. He spun around and flew quickly away, so that they were no longer surrounding him, then stopped and faced them. Beams of ice and ecto-blasts issued from his palms and burst through the ranks of weak ghosts. However, the ghosts didn't freeze after being hit by the ice blasts. They seemed to have extreme internal pain while shivering quite a bit before collapsing onto the ground. The few that survived redoubled their efforts and charged again. This time when they approached, the blue ghost didn't turn away. Instead, he dropped into a practiced fighter's stance while midair and his palm shot out, connecting with the first of the smaller ghosts. It shrieked and plummeted, splatting comically against the street pavement, and a cheer rose from the students watching the fight.

Among them were Tucker and Sam, who had come outside when Desiree's creations fled the school. They, like Desiree had been, were expecting to see Danny flying up there, and were equally surprised as the halfa and genie were when the saw the new ghost. Sam spotted Danny observing from above the school, then returned her attention to the fight.

The blue ghost had just sent another ghost to the ground when one snuck up behind him and, while emitting a high pitched cackle, blasted him. The new ghost was shoved a few feet through the air, but otherwise stayed flying and above the ground. He whirled on the ghost responsible and blasted it back. When he turned back to face the rest, he saw that they were all gone. Only Desiree was left, and she didn't look too pleased about it. The blue ghost, however, seemed pleased as he happily smiled while quickly getting prepared to defend himself. Danny was impressed, if a little wary. He knew that among ghosts he was fairly powerful, but this new one was fighting Desiree easily. Something Danny hadn't been able to do so well his first time around.

The genie raised her hands, preparing to make more minions, but was stopped when her opponent barreled into her, delivering a powerful punch. Desire, not much used to fighting herself, struggled to counter his blows. As the new ghost charged in for another attack, Desire's hand turned into a giant hammer. The blue ghost tried to stop, but before he could Desire hit him right in the face, hardly. This sent the ghost a few hundred yards away. The ghost flew back to her and wiped the small amount of blood on his face. "Ow...you're strong but don't you think you should be more on your guard?" The ghost said, still smiling.

"How about you wish for it then?"

The blue ghost then started flying towards her. He ducked under Desiree's arms as she reached out to grab him, and lunged forwards, elbowing her in the stomach.

Desiree gasped and he grabbed her arms tightly, flinging her over his shoulder and onto the ground, much to the enjoyment of their spectators.

The blue ghost flew down and landed beside her, crossed his arms and smiled, proud of himself that he won his first ghost fight. His face quickly got serious when Desiree tried to get back up.

"Now get out of here." The blue ghost warned her, threatening her with an ecto-charged fist. Knowing she would have almost no chance of winning, Desire got up and started flying away.

"You will pay for this, child!" She said angrily, flying away afterwards.

"Cool! Dude, he's so strong!" Tucker exclaimed when Danny appeared beside him and Sam. Their eyes lingered on the unknown ghost.

"Tucker, I think you have a man crush," Sam taunted. "Or a man ghost crush."

"Hey! My only love is technology!" Tucker protested. "Besides, there's no way he's as strong as Danny.

"I don't know, guys." Danny shook his head, drawing disbelieving stares from his friends. "I mean, we have to wish Desiree away every time we fight her. I've never actually fought her off, but he just did. Whoever that ghost is, he's powerful."

"But he's a good guy, right?" Tucker asked.

"Maybe. He did just defend the school," Sam pointed out.

"Yeah, but how come we've never seen him before? I mean, any ghosts that come to the human world usually do it to terrorize humans. The ones that wouldn't are always content to stay in the Ghost Zone, besides the Dairy King. But if he is defending humans, why only start now?" Danny frowned.

"Maybe this is his first time out of the Ghost Zone?" Tucker offered. "A lot of the ghosts never leave, and usually they only do it fight. But there are ghosts that just want to explore. He might just be one of them."

Danny made a noncommittal noise in response to Tucker's very valid theory. Just this once, maybe the explanation really could be that simple. But for some reason, Danny just couldn't believe it.

 **###**

The next week was frustrating. Danny's ghost sense would go off in the middle of class, and he'd give his customary excuse. But whenever he went to face the threat, the ice ghost was already taking care of it. He stuck around for the entirety of the first few fights, looking for his chance to save the day. It never came. Over the past few days, Danny would only stay for a couple minutes, to see if the ice ghost had a handle on it, since his skills obviously weren't required. The teachers were surprised at his quick returns. A few even complimented him on it, but he didn't pay attention. Usually he was scowling about the way the ice ghost would wave when he saw Danny, and give a small, almost apologetic smile. It annoyed him to no end.

Danny glared at the clouds as they passed overhead. He sat up, crossing his legs, and watched the shadow that was creeping over the Ops Centre towards him. Danny felt like he wasn't needed, because of this new icy ghost that kept showing up. Every time he went to fight, that ghost appeared and tried to do his job for him. Not to mention that, but this ghost even seemed to be better than him.

The shadow flowed over Danny as he scowled. He didn't want to feel useless. He needed to know that he was still strong, that he could protect everyone better than this ghost. Danny jumped to his feet. There was only one way that he could put his mind at ease. He had to beat this ghost in a fight, it was the only way, or at least he thought that way.

He stood with his fists clenched at his side while the white rings formed around his waist. Danny took off into the sky, soaring high above Amit Park, eyes scouring the streets. When Danny's ghost sense went off, he immediately flew down. The ice ghost seemed to appear every time another ghost attacked, so this would be the perfect opportunity to find him. Danny floated a few feet above the street as the familiar shout of "Beware!" filled the air.

"Hey, Boxy!" Danny shouted as the most annoying ghost in the Ghost Zone flew into the street. The Box Ghost spotted him, but his normal challenge was cut off as a blue boot collided with his face. Box Ghost shouted in surprise and Danny's eyes widened, then he frowned.

Danny was hoping a fight would draw the ice ghost. He was also hoping there would actually be a fight before that happened. He was about to fly forwards, take over and do his job before someone else could, but it was already too late. The ice ghost had recovered from delivering his attack and fired an ectoblast, making the Box Ghost to flee away in panic.

Danny frowned when the ice ghost spotted him and waved before flying down a side street. He came here intending to fight, but watching the ghost he just wasn't sure. Maybe this ghost really did have good intentions. Danny was about to turn away, give the ghost the benefit of the doubt like he did for the Dairy King, when he heard a scream.

Danny's eyes widened and he zoomed after the ice ghost. Rounding the corner, he saw a cluster of civilians screaming and running from the blue-haired figure, and a little girl sprawled across the sidewalk.

"I knew it!" Danny hissed. This ghost was dangerous, not helpful, and the people of Amity Park still need him. He flew forwards, yanking the ghost up by his collar, and slamming him against a lamppost. The little girl, who had recovered, shrieked and ran away.

"Listen, ghost. I was willing to think you just might be good after all, even if you constantly interfere, but not anymore!" Danny shouted.

"Whoa, wait, wait, wait, what?" The ice ghost stuttered. Danny started drawing back his fist. The ghost turned intangible and flew through Danny to get out of his grasp and Danny's knuckles struck the metal, denting it. He spun around to face the ice ghost, who had fallen into a defensive stance.

Danny jumped forwards, too angry to think of using ecto-blasts, and attempted several times to simply hit the ghost with the force of his fury. The ghost dodged every single punch, sliding fluidly out of the way. Danny spun around, giving the ghost a roundhouse kick, but he just jumped away several feet and frowned, looking a little bit annoyed.

"Would it be too much to ask what I did?" The ghost asked.

"You tried to take my place, and you tried to hurt my people," Danny said, passing on the opportunity for banter, and fired off several powerful ecto-blasts. The ghost quickly swiped his arm up through the air, and a shield of ice sprung up from the ground to block the blasts. A moment later the shield was destroyed as Danny plowed into it with ecto-plasmically charged fists. The ice ghost, surprised at the rash attack, reacted purely on instinct. He grabbed Danny's wrist before his fist could hit him. Then his fist shot forwards, connecting squarely with Danny's chest, and sent the halfa flying.

"Oops," the ice ghost said, glancing at his fist.

"Danny! Are you okay?"

The halfa, recovering from the sudden blow, looked up to see Sam and Tucker standing nearby. He glared at Tucker, who had spoken.

"Sorry, standard question." Tucker shrugged.

"I'll be right back," Danny said, jumping to his feet and flying forwards. He hit a shield of ice, abruptly raised by his opponent at the last minute. The way he bounced off of it was almost comical, and he slid across the ground and ended up back at his friends' feet.

"Dude, this ghost isn't half bad." Tucker whistled, impressed.

Sam promptly elbowed the techno-geek. "'Dude', that ghost is winning!"

"Yeah, Danny, you're getting your butt kicked." Tucker stared down at the halfa sitting at his feet.

"Thanks for the vote of confidence," Danny growled. He stood once again and attacked. He knew that he was losing, even if the other ghost hadn't truly fought back yet, but he couldn't clear his head to fight properly. Because of this, only a few of his hit had managed to land, and he lacked his normal strength. He could have made up for it by attempting to duplicate, or using stronger attacks like his ghostly wail. But the ice ghost wasn't even attacking, so he decided not to. Not to mention the substantial damage that his ghostly wail could do, which he didn't want to bring down on the already unfortunate street.

"I didn't try to hurt anyone, ya know." the ghost said to Danny. Not believing him, Danny continued his attacks. Several cars were scorched from his dodged ecto-blasts, and already a few small, smoking craters were scattered across the street. Danny looked up from his scanning of the street to see the ice ghost hovering before him, taking his own assessment of the damage caused they their fighting. Danny took the moment of distraction to attack again. He flew bodily into his opponent, sending them both flying towards the ground. During the descent, the ice ghost grabbed Danny's arms and threw him over his shoulders. The halfa grunted as he fell against a car, a large Danny-sized dent appearing on its hood.

"Please dodge."

Danny's head shot up in time to see a small ice ball flying towards him. He immediately countered by throwing his own ecto-blast, and blue exploded against green. A wave of cold air swept through the street as shattered ice and snow burst around the shield. The halfa was momentarily blinded by the wall of white, and his friends behind him ducked their heads to avoid the snow. When they all looked up again, the ice ghost was gone.

The shield in front of Danny faded and he slammed a fist down on the car, adding another dent beside the first, as his friends ran forwards.

"That was the ghost that fought Desiree, right?" Sam asked.

"Yeah." Danny scowled, thinking back on that fight.

"I thought he was a good guy! Why did he start attacking you?" Tucker glanced at his PDA, where the very bare file on the ice ghost was situated, and stated to type in the events of the fight that just occurred.

"He didn't attack me," Danny corrected him.

"What? You attacked him?" Sam asked, staring at Danny in disbelief.

"Dude, why did you do that? You could have been allies, it would have been so cool!" Tucker threw up his arms.

"I heard a scream, he was there, people were running, a little girl was hurt!" Danny defended himself.

"Didn't he just say he didn't hurt anyone?" Tucker asked.

"It looked like he did! He didn't say anything before."

"And people have never mistaken you for a dangerous ghost?" Tucker asked. "Did you even consider it just looked bad?"

"I don't know! Maybe, no, not really, but…" Danny trailed off, tapping his foot nervously.

"Danny, what is it?" Sam pressed.

"I… I don't want to feel useless, like I'm not needed." The halfa muttered.

"Why would you think that?"

"Because he's better than me! He's stronger, faster, can defeat Desiree without wishing her away, and beat the others without a thermos. With him here, I'm not really needed, am I?" Danny asked, hanging his head.

"So you attacked him?" Asked Tucker, raising a skeptical brow.

"I had a reason! And… if I could beat him, then it means that I'm still needed, that I could fight someone he can't."

"Dude, we'll always need you," Tucker reassured.

"Yeah, Danny. You're the one that's been protected the town all this time. Without you, we would have been completely overwhelmed a long time ago," Sam added.

"Without me, the ghosts wouldn't have come in the first place," Danny responded, apparently adamant on his failures.

"You don't know that. Your parents could have figured out what they did wrong on their own, and then we'd be stuck without anyone to save us. It doesn't matter that there's a new ghost here now. Besides, this should kind of make things easier for you," Sam said.

"Yeah, man. You could actually pass your next text, how weird would that be!" Tucker grinned.

"At least there's a good reason I never pass," Danny shot back good-naturedly, his mood lifting.

"Hey, I have a good reason! Doom isn't going to play itself," Tucker crossed his arms.

"Yeah, whatever. Come on, Danny, we actually do have a test that needs to be studied for," Sam said. Danny nodded, running into an alley to transform, thankful that no one else had witnessed the fight and run out to meet the hero of Amity Park.

 **###**

Danny was glaring down at his notes as if they were Plasmius himself. If there was one thing he hated, it was studying. He reached blindly for a forkful of 'meat' from his lunch tray, scanning the sentence for possibly the eighth time in the last five minutes.

"I know you said I could pass this test, but I really doubt it," Danny groaned, dropping his forehead onto the lunchroom table.

"Dude, I'm all for passing a test, but what are you going to do about the ice ghost?" Tucker asked, completely ignoring his own study notes.

"Tucker kind of has a point," Sam agreed. This caused both Tucker and Danny to pause, the latter with his forkful of 'meat' halfway to his open mouth.

"What?"

"Did… did you just say studying wasn't important?" Tucker leaned forwards over the table.

"No, I said you have a point about this ice ghost," Sam clarified, glaring at the techno-geek.

"Uh-huh, sure you did." He grinned and sat back.

"Anyways, what are you going to do about this ghost? Is he good, bad? You can't really blindly attack him again."

Danny cringed, remembering yesterday's fight, and absently rubbed his still sore chest. "I'm not really sure."

"Maybe we should just talk to him, find out why he's here," Sam suggested.

Danny lowered his fork. "I don't really think he'd want to talk to me after what happened."

"Dude, that's why we'll go with you! I seriously doubt he's going to attack us. Besides, what was it you heard him say when he fought Desiree?" Tucker reassured the halfa.

"'I don't want to fight you'," Danny repeated.

"Exactly. He didn't want to fight Desiree, and he probably doesn't want to fight you. Just, don't provoke him," Sam smirked.

"Right." Danny sighed.

 **###**

"So, Sam, since this was your idea, I'll blame you." Tucker groaned over the Fenton Phones.

"Do you have a better idea?"

"… Not really."

"Then focus."

Tucker's grumbles echoed over the Fenton Phones as Danny scanned the town from above. They had left as soon as school ended to find the ice ghost, and had been searching for an hour now. So far there was no sight of the ice ghost, or any other ghost for that matter. Danny had hoping it would be as easy as yesterday, simply finding a ghost to fight and waiting for the ice ghost to show up and interfere. But so far there had been no ghost attacks. Not that the trio wasn't thankful for that.

Danny had touched down in someone's backyard, out of sight, and was thinking of where to look next. He wasn't sure what normal ghosts did when they weren't fighting. Johnny was the only one he knew who left the Ghost Zone for non-threatening reasons. Most of the time.

"Inviso-Bill?"

"It's Phantom, Danny Phantom," Danny corrected reflexively, then whipped around to look at who'd spoken. A little girl holding a red ball. The little girl Danny had seen before fighting the ice ghost.

"Phantom. Was the blue ghost bad?" She asked.

Danny blinked in surprise. "Uh…"

"Because you looked mad, and I thought he was that other scary ghost that's blue, but he wasn't, but you were still mad."

"I don't know. But that other blue ghost, the Box Ghost? He's not that scary. Harmless, really," Danny explained.

"Okay. The other one looked harmless too. I couldn't find my mommy, and I was crying, and he surprised me. I'm sorry I screamed. And tripped. But he's not bad, okay?"

Danny smiled softly and nodded. "Okay."

The girl grinned and ran back to her house. Danny watched for a moment before taking to the air again, now even more determined to find the ice ghost.

"Maybe we should just continue tomorrow?" Tucker suggested after a few minutes.

"I found him," Danny interrupted before Sam could retaliate. He was too high up to see what the ghost was doing, but the speck of blue against the dark roof stood out easily.

"Okay, we're on our way. Just… don't do anything before that."

Danny grumbled and touched down on an opposing rooftop, watching the ice ghost. Who didn't actually appear to be doing anything.

"Danny!" The halfa looked down to the street, where Sam and Tucker were waving up at him. He flew down, grabbed them, and flew them up onto the rooftop. Danny stepped back, allowing Sam and Tucker to approach first, just in case he actually did attack.

"Uh, Danny?" Tucker said, standing over the ghost.

"What?"

"The guy's asleep."

Danny blinked, and stepped forwards. Sure enough, when he looked down at the blue ghost, his eyes were closed and he didn't seem aware that the trio was there at all.

"Do ghosts even sleep?" Sam asked.

"No, they don't. I do, but I'm not really a normal ghost, am I?" Danny frowned, staring down at the ice ghost.

"I guess they do," Tucker mused. "What now, should we wake him up?"

"Just in case he isn't as nice as he seems, I don't really want to risk that." Danny shrugged, once again pressing a hand to his sore chest.

"Right. So, we do nothing?"

"Tucker, it's not like there's anything we can do. He's asleep, so we can't talk, and there really isn't a point in waiting around," Sam said.

"Cool. So, who's up for Dead Teacher VI?" Tucker grinned at his friends. Danny smirked, agreeing with what was probably the best idea he'd heard all day. He flew his friends to Sam's house, where the techno-geek took the liberty of commanding control of the impressive movie system. Before the movie even started, however, he and Sam started arguing about what snacks to have besides popcorn. More specifically, Sam wanted something along the lines of vegetables, and Tucker was demanding ordering some of the Nasty Burger's new chicken poppers. Danny, happy to sit out on the argument, simply watched from his seat on one of the plush chairs.

He had more pressing things to think about than the moral dilemmas of preferring a deep fried ball of chicken over carrot sticks. He still didn't know who the ice ghost was, or why he was here. Good or not, his sudden appearance was strange. Danny would have to try and approach him again. But until then, he had a movie to watch, and two best friends to stop from punching each other's lights out. Phantom couldn't spend his time being a hero.

 _ **Hope you liked the first episode! Episode 2 should be out fairly soon. You may mob me if it doesn't :P. ALSO, remember to check out Unlucky Alis! She was the one who co-written this with me :). Here's her page.**_ ** _u/7128228/_**


	2. Mischievous Bet

**_I promised you Episode 2 by at least the 22nd and that's what happened! :D Episode 3 should be out sooner than this one :) I hope you all enjoy, and thank you for the reviews so far!_**

Danny Phantom rocketing down the street in the middle of the day was a rather normal occurrence in Amity Park. So while people were still drawn to the sight of their hero zooming past, what caused the most interest was the motorcycle driving along the rooftops.

"Sorry, kid, you're just not fast enough!" The ghost laughed as he jumped a gap between buildings.

"Faster than you think." Danny grinned, speeding ahead. As Johnny 13 was about to jump another gap, Danny flew up in front of him.

"Whoa!" Johnny yelled in surprise. Danny turned intangible just before the motorcycle hit, and Johnny passed harmlessly through him. But Danny's sudden appearance had stunned him enough that he wasn't able to make the landing, and the bike skidded against the roof.

"You scratched my bike!" Johnny protested, lifting the damaged vehicle.

Danny grinned. "I guess you'll just have to fix it once I toss you back into the Ghost Zone."

"Like that's happening. Shadow!" Johnny swung an arm out and pointed at Danny as his shadow rose off the rooftop. "Attack!"

Shadow almost seemed to be laughing as it surged forwards. Danny immediately took to the sky, flying up and away from Johnny. He lifted a hand to his ear and activated his Fenton Phone.

"Tucker, I'm on my way. Shadow's right behind me."

"Ready, dude." Tucker's voice crackled over the earphone. Danny glanced back over his shoulder at the pursuing ghost, then veered downwards. Shadow, not expecting the sudden change in direction, flew right over the halfa's head before it recovered and pursued once again. Danny was weaving through the back lanes when Shadow finally caught up. He stopped at a dead end and turned to his pursuer.

"Hey, tall, dark, and ugly! You look like you could use a little sunshine," Danny taunted the ghost. "Tucker, now!"

On top of one of the surrounding buildings, Tucker gripped the edges of an almost comically large mirror and tilted it down towards the alley. Shadow shrieked as the light bouncing off the mirror's surface started to burn through its chest. Taking advantage of the distraction, Danny whipped out a Fenton Thermos and sucked Shadow inside.

"Without his Shadow, catching Johnny will be a piece of cake," Tucker said and Danny flew up beside him.

"He probably hasn't gotten far. Meet you at the Nasty Burger?" Danny asked, clipping the thermos onto his belt and preparing to head back to Johnny.

"Yes! I heard they have an even meatier Mighty Meaty Cheesy Melt." Tucker was drooling already.

"Just don't let Sam hear you say that." Danny chuckled and took off, just catching Tucker's nervous gulp before flying out of earshot. "Speaking of Sam…"

 **###**

Several blocks over, the Goth in question was running down the street with one of the Fenton's more compact weapons clutched in her hands. A green haired ghost could be seen flying ahead of her. The ghost was faster and would soon be too far away. The gap between them wouldn't be as large if Sam hadn't seen the Ice Ghost. It was a while ago, just after the chase began. Sam had been planning on calling out for help, but her hesitation allowed Kitty to gain ground and she quickly abandoned the idea in lieu of pursuit.

Sam, unwilling to lose her target, now ran out into the middle of the street and fired. A green blob shot from the barrel of her gun and soared towards the ghost, striking her square in the back and sending her hurtling towards the street.

"Yes!" Sam cheered and ran forwards. "I've caught you, Kitty."

"Not for long." Kitty raised a hand and fired a bright blue ectoblast. Sam ducked and rolled out of the way. When she regained her bearings, Kitty had escaped the goo holding her down and was flying away again, this time with a much more considerable lead. Sam set off, continuing the chase, but Kitty soon vanished from sight. The Goth stopped and looked around, checking if Kitty was just lying in wait for a moment to attack. But nothing was happening. She started walking around, searching for her quarry, and sighed when she couldn't find her.

Sam was about to radio in to Danny and Tucker, check on their progress, when streets away Danny was activating his earphone for a second time.

"How are things going with the search for Kitty?"

"Honestly? Can't really tell. I lost her a while back, but haven't seen her since. I'm thinking the Ice Ghost got her, I saw him flying around earlier."

Danny dragged his eyes across the rooftops, searching for the telltale sign of a ghostly motorcycle.

"Probably. Tucker's already off to Nasty Burger. You gonna come?" Finally he heard the distinctive rumbling engine and swerved towards it.

"Sure. See you there."

There was a barely audible click, and the Fenton Phones went silent. Danny was flying just above Johnny now, not yet seen by the older ghost. He moved closer until they were neck and neck, and Johnny finally noticed him. He swerved away, but Danny was quick to follow.

"Don't you know it's bad luck to attack a halfa?" Danny grinned cheekily.

"What? No it's not." Johnny shook his head, catching the meaning in Danny's words too late. He was knocked aside by a powerful ectoblast and Danny stepped up beside him, open Fenton Thermos aimed down.

"I think it should be." The beam of light shot from the open mouth of the thermos, and a protesting Johnny was sucked inside. Danny slammed the lid back on and quickly flew to Fenton Works, releasing his captives back into the Ghost Zone, then headed to the Nasty Burger. He touched down outside the restaurant and transformed back into Fenton just as Sam and Tucker arrived.

"Dude, how did you beat us?" Tucker asked.

"Duh, ghost powers," Sam countered, slugging the techno-geek in the shoulder.

"Ow, it was a standard question!" Tucker defended himself while Sam just rolled her eyes and they headed inside.

"So if ice boy did catch Kitty, where do you think she is right now?" Sam asked, casting Tucker a disapproving glance as he ordered the newest, meatiest item on the menu.

"I don't know, probably giving Johnny an earful for his latest failure." Danny shrugged, and he wasn't wrong.

 **###**

"You and that Shadow of yours are useless! I could have caught Phantom five times by the time you even managed to hit him," Kitty shouted and gave a frustrated sigh. She loved her boyfriend, she really did. But he could be infuriating at times.

"Sorry, babe, but that's just not true. Shadow and I've beaten him before, and we can do it again," Johnny retaliated. Kitty let out an offended gasp and glared at him. They were standing in the middle of the Ghost Zone on a floating slab of rock, having a rather intensive argument over Johnny's latest defeat at the hands of Phantom just over an hour ago. While Kitty herself hadn't actually managed to win her fight, she had at least avoided capture instead of going through the uncomfortable process of being crammed into the Fenton Thermos, and then unceremoniously deposited into the Ghost Zone. Overall it was an embarrassing process, and now Johnny had the gall to say that she was wrong?

"Oh, please. That was ages ago. He'd only just met you and he wasn't as strong then. You haven't won a single fight since," Kitty sneered at her boyfriend. "You're way too predictable. 'Shadow, attack!' You're helpless without that thing, and Phantom could probably beat you in his sleep."

"So you're rooting for Phantom now? You know what, maybe you should have just stayed inside that shallow girl's body if you like the kid so much," Johnny snapped back. He cross his arms and leaned against his motorcycle. Beneath him, spread out against the rock, Shadow grinned and laughed. Kitty glared at it and blasted the ground it occupied. Shadow hissed in pain and settled at Johnny's feet.

"Maybe I should have stayed, but that doesn't change anything. You still wouldn't be able to beat the kid," Kitty retaliated.

"Oh, yeah? I bet I could catch him before you, easy," Johnny challenged.

"Yeah, right," Kitty scoffed. "The day that happens is the day I'll stop complaining about that unlucky Shadow of yours. But it'll never happen."

"Only one way to find out. I'll go and catch him right now, and you can never complain about Shadow again."

"Fine! But when I catch Phantom by the end of the day tomorrow, you have to get rid of that Shadow for good." Kitty thrust out a hand, a confident smirk on her lips. Johnny glanced at Shadow, then Kitty's hand.

"Deal!" He slapped Kitty's outstretched hand and immediately hopped onto his motorcycle. He revved it and drove away, sending up a cloud of dust around his girlfriend. He only stopped driving when the Fenton Portal came into view and shot Shadow a reassuring look.

"Relax. There's no way we'll lose. Phantom doesn't stand a chance." Johnny waited for the portal to open, probably the work of that idiot Jack Fenton, and took off again.

Kitty, who had been flying behind her boyfriend at a distance, smirked as she watched him disappear through the large metal doors. It could be a while before the doors opened again, but she wasn't worried. She'd had to deal with that no good Shadow for years, and now she had a chance to get rid of it once and for all. She knew her boyfriend well, and knew that he could be rash at times and lacked control. His habit of ogling every living girl he saw whenever they left the Ghost Zone proved that. He would more than likely charge after Phantom the first chance he got with no plan in mind.

But Kitty was smarter than that. She had manipulated Phantom in the past, how hard could it be to do it again?

 **###**

Danny was making his evening rounds when Kitty approached. He was flying over Amity Park almost lazily, fully aware of the fact that he should have been studying for his history test tomorrow, when he caught sight of a familiar red jacket. He wasted no time zooming towards the ground and hovered in front of Kitty. They assumed earlier that she had simply fled, but Danny supposed it was possible she could have stayed in the human realm. That would explain why, a couple hours ago, Johnny had reappeared and delivered a sloppy attack. Danny hadn't really been paying attention, too annoyed that Johnny decided to attack twice in one day, but he thought the biker had been ranting about Kitty. Maybe. Either that, or he had some pet ghost cat.

Either way, Johnny had attacked him twice today, and Danny didn't want to have to deal with Kitty too. He considered it his duty to protect Amity from ghosts, but a lot of them could be annoying and he had been looking forward to a peaceful night of procrastination.

"We already beat you once today, so this time I'll give you a chance. Ten seconds, then I'll give you the same farewell I gave Johnny. Twice," Danny said.

"I'm not here to fight," Kitty said, raising her hands in a gesture of surrender.

"Really?" Danny asked, sounding a little too eager.

"Really. No overshadowing popular girls, or trying to overshadow your girlfriend—"

"She's not my girlfriend."

"Whatever. I just wanted to warn you." Kitty shrugged.

"About what?" Danny floated closer, intrigued. He'd made shaky alliances with his enemies in the past, so it was highly possible that Kitty was telling the truth.

"Johnny, he's going to keep attacking until he catches you."

"And why are you telling me this?" Danny watched the female ghost closely, looking for any telltale hint to prove if she was lying or telling the truth. He was also a little suspicious and wondered about ulterior motives.

"I just wanted to give you a heads up, we did have something special for a while." Kitty smiled.

"You overshadowed a girl I had a crush on and pretended to like me, I wouldn't call that special." Danny shook his head and started drifting away. "What are you getting out of this?"

"Johnny out of my hair for a while. And take this, it'll be useful." Kitty flew over and pressed a pink compact mirror into Danny's palm. "Beat 'im up good for me." Kitty waved and flew away in the direction of Fenton Works, presumably to the portal. Danny watched her go, thinking about what she had told him. He looked at the mirror in his hand, wondering if this was some kind of trap. Probably, but he could at least try it out.

 **###**

Kitty flew through Fenton Works and snorted at the big orange guy, who was ranting on about fudge. She entered the Ghost Zone with a smirk on her face. She would give it about half a day. Johnny, being as stubborn as he was, wouldn't stop his onslaught of Danny Phantom. Over time, Danny would wear out and wouldn't be able to properly defend himself when she made her appearance.

Johnny would be worn out too, so Kitty didn't have to worry about him snaking out the win from under her. All she had to do was bide her time and choose the moment to attack. In the meantime, she could relax, maybe see what Ember and Spectra were up to.

 **###**

"Dude, are you sure that thing is safe?" Tucker asked, pointing at the compact mirror Danny was sliding across his desk. After his talk with Kitty the previous night, he decided to cut patrol short and retire to playing Doom the rest of the night. Despite Kitty's warning, Johnny hadn't attacked him all night. Danny actually had a good sleep that night. Or he would have, if it weren't for Doom. Nothing had happened on the way to school either. Now Danny was sitting, waiting for first period to start.

He filled Sam and Tucker in on the walk to school, and they were now focused on what was possibly the most important variable. What was with the compact mirror?

"It hasn't exploded yet." Danny shrug and swatted the pink item to the other side of his desk.

"It'll probably only do something if you open it," Sam said. Danny slapped his hand down on the mirror and stared intently at the clasp.

"Not here!" Sam lurched forwards and pulled it out of his hands. "You have no idea what's going to happen when you open it."

"I bet you it's a trick. You'll open it, and a big net will explode out of it," Tucker guessed.

"She's not Skulker," Danny grumbled.

"Oh my goodness, Gothica owns something pink!"

The trio groaned, glancing towards Paulina in almost perfect sync, and she grinned with false sweetness at Sam.

"How about I give you something purple?" Sam snarled, holding up her fist. Paulina scoffed and flipped her hair over her shoulder.

"Purple is out this year," the Latina said, unable to think of a better comeback.

"Besides your eyeshadow?" Sam smirked. Paulina sputtered and growled, realizing she had just lost their little spat. She huffed and spun on her heels, marching to her seat near the front of the classroom. The trio watched, Sam smirking triumphantly and the boys snickering quietly to themselves.

"Maybe this will be a good day," Tucker suggested. The moment the words left his lips, a blue wisp slipped out of Danny's. The halfa groaned and stood.

"Class hasn't even started yet," he complained.

"Which means you might make it back in time," Sam reminded him. Danny nodded and jogged out of the classroom. He found an empty hallway and transformed, flying out of the school. He was a few streets over when he found the reason he was risking detention first thing in the morning. Johnny had parked his motorcycle in the middle of the thankfully empty street. He was leaning against it casually chewing down one of his nails. Apparently Kitty had been telling the truth, which meant they were probably have some kind of "lover's quarrel" as Johnny called it. That's usually what it was. Danny decided to try taking the diplomatic approach and see if he could convince Johnny to leave.

"Hey," Danny called, flying closer. Johnny looked up and saw him, and not even a second later a black massed slammed into the younger ghost. He yelled in surprise as he fell from the air, slamming heavily into the sidewalk. Danny groaned and rolled onto his back, looking at the grinning Shadow above him.

"Didn't I take care of you already?" Danny asked, flying back as Shadow lunged forwards again.

"You can't get rid of us that easily, punk!" Johnny shouted. He had yet to make a move.

"That doesn't mean I'll stop trying!" Ectoplasm gathered in Danny's fist and he thrust it towards the shadow ghost. The light burned it, and Shadow shrieked as a hole momentarily formed in his chest. But it quickly healed over.

"I need more light," Danny grumbled in frustration, looking around. They weren't anywhere near the Amity Park stadium, not that those lights would be as effective during the day as they are at night. But there had to be something. He dodged another of Shadow's attacks, and it ended up phasing through a light post. There was a pop and a fizzle, then a loud creak before the entire post fell, crushing an empty parked car.

"Too scared to fight me yourself?" Danny goaded, smirking at Johnny. He had a plan, he just hoped it was a good one.

"Hey! I'm not scared of anything, you're just not worth it," Johnny protested, stepping away from his bike.

"Then why have your Shadow attack me at all?" Danny continued. "The way I see it, you're just scared to lose again."

"I won't lose!" Johnny shouted, and he ran forwards. Danny grinned triumphantly and flew straight past him, barely clipping Johnny on the shoulder with his punch.

"What?" The unlucky ghost stumbled, staring at Danny in surprise. His expression quickly turned angry as Danny mounted his bike. "No one touches my motorcycle!"

"Oops." Danny shrugged and kicked up the stand. "Nobody told me."

"Shadow!" Johnny shouted. Danny revved the motorcycle and took off. Johnny's shadow was quick to follow. Danny had barely driven a block down when he turned sharply and angled the motorcycle to meet Shadow head on. At the last second, Johnny seemed to realize what Danny was planning, and started to command a retreat, but it was too late. Danny turned on the motorcycle's headlight, which was bright enough to cut through the shroud of the Ghost Zone. Shadow immediately froze, burned by the brightness. It wasn't enough to send him away completely, but it was all Danny needed. He flew up off the motorcycle at the last second while it continued on its path for another few feet, passing right through Shadow.

"No!" Johnny shouted. The motorcycle wobbled, then fell, skidding across the road before falling apart completely. Without a thermos on him—Danny had forgotten it in his backpack—he couldn't force Johnny and Shadow back into the Ghost Zone. But Danny knew Johnny cared about his bike almost as much as his girlfriend, although sometimes it seemed like he preferred the vehicle. With the motorcycle out of commission, Danny figured Johnny would retreat, and he was right.

"Shadow, come back."

The injured ghosts whimpered and flew back to Johnny, attaching itself to his feet.

"No hard feelings, right Johnny? I know friendships like these can just fall apart sometimes." Danny smirked.

"Shut up, punk. I'll fix my bike, then I'll be back," Johnny hissed.

"So will I," Danny countered. He gave Johnny one last glare as the ghost started to gather up his broken motorcycle and flew back to school. The fight hadn't taken too long, but he was still late for class. Danny sighed as he thought of the pink slip that would be forced into his hand as soon as he returned.

 **###**

Thankfully, the rest of the class went by without incident. Minus Dash tripping him when the bell went. Second period started off well enough. It was just Danny and Tucker, since Sam had a different geography class. Danny was hopeful, thinking that Johnny may be taking longer than expected to fix his bike. Halfway through the class he was thoroughly disappointed. Mr. Falluca, who was filling in for their regular teacher, was in the middle of a discussion when Danny's ghost sense went off.

He went through the usually routine, raising his hand, asking to go to the bathroom. Falluca sighed but nodded. Because of an incident the previous year, teachers were no longer allowed to deny bathroom requests. The second fight was a lot easier. Apparently Johnny's bike wasn't repaired, and Shadow wasn't with him either.

"Tall, dark, and gruesome couldn't take the heat?" Danny asked cheerfully when he found Johnny in the stairwell.

"I can take you out without his help, punk," Johnny shot back. Danny floated leisurely one landing above the biker. He was certain Johnny didn't actually have any ghost powers, besides the basic flight, intangibility, and invisibility. Although Danny never actually saw him use those, either.

"Oh, I get it. You just don't want a repeat of last time." Danny nodded in solemn understanding. "Must be pretty embarrassing, right? Your own ghost used against you."

Johnny ground his teeth together and ran up the stairs, jumping to try and pull Danny from the air. The halfa floated away before Johnny had even reached him. He swooped down, passing through the floor, and coming up behind Johnny to deliver a sharp punch. All it took was one good hit, and the biker went flying.

"A ghost with a glass jaw. I really thought that would have been one of the yetis," Danny joked, then shrugged. He whipped out the Fenton Thermos, which he had thankfully remembered this time, and slammed his thumb on the button. Johnny was quickly sucked into the beam, and for once Danny was able to make it back to class in good time. He received a few surprised stares, the biggest of which coming from Falluca himself, as he was welcomed back to class. Danny kept the Fenton Thermos hidden behind his back and discreetly slipped it into his backpack.

"You got him?" Tucker asked, leaning across the aisle.

"Yeah, easily. Without his Shadow, Johnny really isn't much of a fighter." Danny nodded.

"Dude, that's awesome. Guess you're in the clear for the rest of the day."

"Yeah, I guess so."

 **###**

Kitty was livid. She had been having a great time with Ember, getting some payback on Klemper for all the times he pursued them in an attempt to make friends, when she decided to check how things were going with Johnny and Danny. She knew it hadn't been long, but wanted to hurry up and get the bet over with so she could prove she was right. She stopped by their shared lair on the way to the Fenton portal, and was surprised to find Johnny's bike in pieces, and Shadow wallowing the corner.

Communication with the dark ghost wasn't easy, since it couldn't actually talk, but eventually Kitty was able to glean that Danny tricked Shadow into destroying Johnny's bike and Johnny had left both behind for his next attack. That had been over an hour ago. If Johnny won, he would have been back to gloat by now, which meant the idiot had gotten himself captured. Phantom could leave him in that ridiculously cramped thermos for days before deciding to release him, and that would ruin everything.

But thankfully, Kitty had planned for this. She just didn't think her boyfriend was stupid enough for the contingency to be needed. She wasn't sure how long it would take, but as long as Phantom was carrying both items, eventually the thermos and compact mirror would come in contact, and everything would move ahead as planned. The only problem was that without Shadow or his bike, Johnny didn't stand a chance.

"What are you doing here?" Kitty snapped, even though she already knew the reason.

The look Shadow gave her was surprisingly sad, and Kitty rolled her eyes.

"You're that moron's shadow, not mine. You want to help him, go. Forget what he said." Kitty cross her arms and glared at Shadow. It only hesitated a moment before zooming out of the lair, and Kitty laughed as she watched its figure recede.

 **###**

As Danny and Tucker made their way through the queue for lunch, they stared questioningly at the 'meatloaf' being slopped onto the trays ahead. Yes, slopped. If weren't worried enough about its mysterious main ingredient, the jelly-like consistency only made it more undesirable.

"And the Lunch Lady can't come back and complain about this menu change?" Danny asked, prodding his meal reluctantly.

"I don't think the menu actually changed. Just… what it's made of," Tucker answered with equal discuss. They shared a look, then shoved their trays to the side as Sam sat down across from them.

"No bagged lunches today?" She asked, smirking at their misfortune.

"Ghost pancakes ate it," Danny groaned.

"I needed a midnight snack." Tucker shrugged.

Sam just rolled her eyes as she opened her own lunch, then tossed the boys a bag of crackers. "Did Johnny attack again?"

"Second period, but I caught him." Danny pulled out the thermos and dropped it proudly onto the table. "No more attacks for me."

"Huh, I guess Kitty was telling the truth." Sam flicked the thermos, and an answering ting came from inside. "Did she tell you why he would do this?"

"Nope, and I don't really care. I caught him, and now it's straight back to the Ghost Zone. I mean, once I remember, of course." Danny grinned and tipped the thermos onto its side. There was a series of frantic taps as the ghost inside protested against his treatment.

"Hey, speaking of Kitty. Did you figure out what that mirror thing does?" Tucker asked as he stuffed a handful of crackers in his mouth.

"Tucker, that's gross," Sam scolded. "And I still have the stupid mirror. Here"

She slid it across the table towards Danny, who picked it up. "Kitty said it was supposed to help me somehow. I almost wish I got to see what it does."

He dropped his chin onto the table and stared at the mirror in his hands. Maybe it was supposed to shoot some kind of ghost ray, or one of Kitty's signature hypnotizing powers. It certainly seemed like something she would do. Danny sighed and flipped the pink mirror onto the table, sliding it towards the thermos, and focused instead on his friends.

"I think it's probably better off we don't know," Sam said, taking a bite of her tofu wrap.

"Yeah, probably," Danny mumbled in agreement.

Tucker chuckled and nudged Danny. "I think the Fenton genes are kicking in. Feeling an urge to understand all things ghostly?"

"No. But I do have ghostly allies. Maybe Kitty could have been one of them," Danny suggested.

"Or maybe she was setting you up for a trap, because your thermos is smoking!" Sam shouted, and the boys turned to look at the item in question. The display on thermos' side was flashing red, and tendrils of smoke were curling out from under the cap. The mirror was smoking too, and soon sparks were jumping between the two objects.

"Chuck and duck!" Tucker cried, diving below the table. Danny grabbed the Fenton Thermos, which was hot to the touch, while Sam took the mirror. They tossed them into the nearest garbage can and slipped under the table.

"Duck!" Danny yelled to the cafeteria, hands cupped around his mouths. A few students listened and took refuge under their tables just as the thermos and mirror exploded. Danny's ghost sense went off as green ooze and garbage was scattered across the cafeteria, and the students screamed.

"You're dead Phantom!" Johnny shouted as he escaped. Thankfully the students that hadn't immediately fled the cafeteria were in too much of a panic to notice the comment.

"You think I made him mad?" Danny asked, cringing at his friends, who nodded slowly in return.

Outside, Johnny was fleeing and plotting his revenge when he ran into Shadow.

"I thought I told you to stay in the Zone?" Johnny asked, his anger at Phantom now aimed at his friend. Shadow looked guilty, and immediately started to say something in his garbled speech, but Johnny waved him off. "Doesn't matter. Until I get back, make this the worst day of Phantom's life."

Shadow nodded and flew towards the school.

 **###**

The student of Casper High were resilient and recovered quickly, resuming lunch as normal while the janitors went to work on the ectoplasmic goo spread across the walls and tables.

"I told you we'd be better off not knowing what that mirror was for," Sam said, staring spitefully at the garbage can.

"You can say it," Danny mumbled.

"I told you so. Now you've got to catch Johnny again. You're not going now?" Sam asked.

"Kitty wasn't lying about one thing. Johnny isn't going to stop attack until, I don't know, until something happens. He'll come back and as, much as I don't like school, I can't miss anymore today. I'm just going to wait," Danny declared, slamming his hands firmly against the table. There was a sharp crack, then the bench he was sitting on snapped and sent him tumbling to the floor. Dash was naturally the first to laugh, and soon the rest of the cafeteria was doing the same. Danny groaned, rolling his eyes at typically bully behaviour as he stood up. Among the laughter, he thought he heard a guttural voice chuckling along with the rest.

"Did you guys hear that?" Danny asked while he moved to the other side of the table.

"No, but I saw it." Tucker snickered along with the others.

"Sorry, Danny. I didn't notice anything," Sam said with a shrug. Danny sighed and looked around the cafeteria. The laugh had been familiar. Not like Vlad's annoying chortle, or Skulker's rumble, but he knew it from somewhere.

"Whatever, let's just eat." Danny looked down at his tray, grimacing at the 'meatloaf,' now coated in a thin film of ectoplasm. "Or not."

He took his tray to the nearest garbage can, besides the one he and Tucker had accidentally blown up. On the way he slipped on a puddle of ectoplasm. Danny threw his tray went flying and he tripped into the garbage can he had been heading for. Despite barely bumping the can, it tipped across Danny's back, and his food tray landed upside down on top of his head.

This is how Danny started the unluckiest forty minutes of his life. After shaking off the banana peels, slimy chunks of meatloaf, and half eaten lunches across his back, Lancer forced a broom and garbage bag into his hands and told him to clean up the mess. Every step he took, something broke, or spilled, and the garbage bags he dragged behind him as he cleaned continued to tear and leak.

Once everything was finally cleaned up—Danny decided to help the janitors out a little, since he was sort of at fault for the rest of the mess—he took his bags to the dumpster behind the school. The doors leading outside locked themselves behind him. Danny groaned as he tried to the handle. There was only one ghost that could wreak this particular brand of havoc. Something always went wrong with anything Shadow touched. The laugh Danny heard before had to be from him. Johnny had sent his ghostly minion to make him miserable before the real attack. But Danny couldn't actually confirm that without seeing the ghost.

Even But without seeing Shadow, he couldn't prove anything, and he didn't want to waste time looking

Either way, by this point in time Danny's sense had already registered him. Shadow wasn't really the problem, anyways. Well, he was, but he wasn't the main problem. Johnny was the one behind all this, and until he made an appearance and gave Danny a chance to get this over with, there was nothing to be done.

Fourth period went by fairly smoothly. Danny mostly attributed that to the fact that he didn't leave his seat. That didn't stop the legs on his desk collapsing, but he would take struggling to write his notes against his legs than be hit in the face by a ceiling tile again.

When the bell for class change went off, Danny rose from his seat with obvious hesitance. He slowly gathered up his backpack and books while the rest of the class left, and winced when he took a step, expecting something bad to happen. But nothing did. Still cautious, Danny took another, then walked all the way to the door and out into the hall. No lights popped, no locker broke, and there was absolutely nothing to trip or slip on.

"He's not here," Danny said quietly, a grin spreading across his face. Sam and Tucker, who were two steps ahead of him, looked back.

"He's not here!" Danny repeated loudly, throwing his arms up and hugging the nearest person, who just happened to be Sam. Tucker snickered, and Danny realized what he was doing. He quickly let go and backed away, rubbing the back of his neck. "Sorry. But Shadow isn't here. Nothing unlucky happened!"

"Doesn't this mean Johnny is going to attack soon?" Tucker asked as they started off towards English.

"Even better. I can kick his butt, and send him back into the Ghost Zone before he does anything else." Danny grinned, his mood sufficiently lifted.

"What about the whole you-can't-miss-more-class thing?" Sam asked, elbowing Danny's side. The halfa's expression immediately fell.

"Oh, yeah. Maybe Johnny won't come back until after school?" He suggested hopefully.

If only he could be so lucky.

 **###**

The rumbling sound of a motorcycle engine drifting through the open window interrupted Lancer's rather dry speech on Shakespeare's poetic form. At the back of the class, Danny's head immediately shot up and he stifled a groan. Couldn't Johnny have held off for just another half hour? Having one detention was bad enough, but getting a second, and from Lancer of all people? The vice principal had certainly eased up on his strict behaviour since freshman year, and no longer showed distinct favouritism towards the jocks, but he could still be hard on Danny. The halfa had no desire to face that today.

"I give it three seconds," Tucker said with a smirk, looking expectantly at the classroom wall.

"Two," Sam continued the countdown as Danny started to pull the Fenton Thermos from his backpack. He would use the confusion of Johnny's appearance to sneak away and transform, then reappear and capture the motorcycling ghost hopefully before Shadow could do any damage, and end this as quickly as possible.

"One," Danny muttered in resignation. But instead of Johnny 13 phasing through the classroom wall, a bright blue ray burst through the window. The students screamed in surprise and immediately ran into the hallways.

"Phantom, you're mine!" Kitty yelled as she flew through the broken window.

"You could have just turned intangible, you know," Danny said while his transformation rings travelled up and down his person. "Also, ew."

"Shut up!" Kitty raised a hand to her lips and blew a kiss. Danny jumped away from the large blue lips that started flying towards him. It was at that moment that Johnny finally entered the room, narrowly missing being hit by Kitty's attack himself.

"Whoa, babe, that's not part of the contest," Johnny cried out.

"Um, contest?" Tucker asked in confusion. He and Sam were standing off to the side, neither of them having their own thermoses and equally perplexed as Danny was at the current situation.

"I wasn't aiming for you!" Kitty shouted. "Not my fault you're useless without your Shadow, babe."

Just as Kitty spoke, said Shadow flew through the floor and straight towards Danny. He ducked, lighting up his hands with ghostly energy and pressing them against Shadow's chest. It wasn't near enough to momentarily disintegrate the ghost, but it did allow Danny shove him out of the classroom and onto the field.

"Let's take this outside, you look like you could use a little sun," Danny jested as he followed. Johnny's motorcycle engine revved as he burst through the wall next to the hole Kitty had made, and Kitty herself blasted her own way through once again.

"Really, guys. We're ghosts. We have a little something called in-tang-i-bility. I suggest you use it," Danny said, shaking his head. The whole reason he had moved outside was so that less damage could be done to the classroom. A moment later, the entire wall crumbled and fell, no doubt influenced by Shadow's bad luck. Danny just shook his head.

"Let's just get this over with!" Danny shouted, whipping the thermos around and aiming it at Johnny.

"Oh not again. Shadow!" Johnny commanded. Danny reeled back as Shadow surged upwards from its place on the ground Instead of attacking, it passed its arm through the Fenton Thermos. Danny's parent's invention immediately started sparking, and the lights on it went dead.

"Come on! These things aren't easy to make, you know!" Danny tossed thermos at Johnny, successfully nailing the ghost in the head.

"Hey!" Johnny protested, rubbing the now sore spot. Beside him Kitty started laughing, and Danny blasted her. Caught by surprise, she didn't notice the attack in time and was hit, flying backwards several feet before landing hard on the ground.

"And you used me again!" Danny shouted.

"Hey!" Johnny shouted, louder this time. "That's my girlfriend!"

"And?"

"You do not attack my girlfriend!" In spite of their current feud and contest, Johnny loved his girlfriend more than anything, and would not let Danny get away for attacking her. Shadow lunged, grabbing Danny's shoulders and tearing through his suit, while Kitty pressed a hand to her lips and blew a kiss.

The halfa yelled in surprise and panic, quickly pulling his legs up to avoid the kiss. He had never seen Kitty use this kind of attack before, and had no desire to find out what it did. He charged his feet with energy and kicked against Shadow's chest, forcing the ghost to let go, and rolled away.

Danny was a good fighter, he had faced off a lot of strong ghosts. Johnny, Kitty, and Shadow were not strong ghosts. But even weak ghosts could be troublesome in numbers, and Danny wasn't sure if he could deal with all three of them at once. The moment he attack Shadow or Johnny, Kitty would go after him. If he went after Kitty, Shadow and Johnny would attack. Danny was staring at his three enemies, trying to come up with an attack plan, when he felt a ghostly presence beside him.

"Need a hand?"

It was the Ice Ghost! Danny immediately jumped away, looking at him suspiciously. The newcomer was smiling with his arm stretched out in front of him, offering his hand. Danny was still wary of this ghost. He had no idea whether the Ice Ghost was good or evil, and considering Kitty's most recent ruse, Danny was partial to the consideration that he was being duped. But the blue ghost's smile looked sincere enough, and he wasn't trying to blast Danny, yet.

Reluctantly, the halfa accepted. He shook the offered hand and nodded towards the three ghosts in front of them.

"I'll take care of Johnny and Shadow. Can you get Kitty?"

The Ice Ghost beamed and nodded. "Alright."

Danny watched as he fell into a fighting stance. The Ice Ghost stood at an angle, so as little of his body was facing Kitty as possible. His knees were bent but his left leg, which was positioned in front of his body, was a little straighter. His hands were clenched into fists, right arm tucked against his side, and left arm in front of his body. It looked like an actual fighter's stance, something taught, rather than style Danny gained through experience. Absently, the halfa wondered who taught the Ice Ghost.

But he didn't have time to think. Johnny and Kitty weren't a patient pair, and soon they were attacking again. Kitty fired a blue ghost ray at the duo. The Ice Ghost quickly dodged and flew towards her while Danny was distracted by Shadow. He knew the unlucky ghost was the one to watch out for, since every one of its movements had an unpredictable outcome. Without a bright enough source of light, and a Fenton Thermos, getting rid of it would be hard. But Johnny could be taken care of right away.

Danny spun, swinging his leg out and generating a crescent of green energy that flew towards Shadow, and followed it quickly with a flashing energy ball. As predicted, Shadow separated its body to let the crescent pass harmlessly through. When the black mass reformed, the energy ball was at its center, and it exploded in a bright flash of light. It was strong enough to momentarily blind, but not to get rid of Shadow. The energy ball was too concentrated on one area for that. Either way, it provided an adequate distraction for Danny to fly passed Shadow while it struggled to reform, and sock Johnny on the jaw. The motorcyclist stumbled, clutching his chin.

"You'll pay for that, punk," Johnny growled and leapt forwards.

"Does everyone call me punk?" Danny asked, easily dodging Johnny's attack and kicking the back of his knees. "You, Walker. I think Skulker even said it once. And don't forget all that 'ghost punk' nonsense from the GiW."

"Do you ever stop talking?" Johnny shouted.

"No, not really." Danny shook his head and grinned. "I don't really lose either."

With a single, powerful blast to Johnny's chest, Danny sent the older ghost flying. Johnny slammed into an intact portion of the school wall and slid down, unconscious. Normally Danny preferred to take such measures, but he needed to keep Johnny out of the fight, and out of mind until he could get another thermos. Danny fired several blasts of sticky ectoplasm, restraining Johnny's hands and arms just in case he woke up. He added another shot to Johnny's mouth for insurance.

"One ghost down." Danny grinned, then lurched forwards as Shadow slammed into him.

"Whoa!" Danny shouted in surprise, and quickly turned his stumbling into a controlled roll. He got back up and leapt into the air, facing Shadow, who looked good as new. "Wow, you, uh, recovered fast."

Shadow grinned and flew forwards again. Danny charged up another flashing energy ball, making this one bigger than the last. But this kind of attack, despite not doing much damage wise, took up a surprising amount of energy and concentration to manipulate it. If Danny wanted to make one bright enough to get rid of Shadow, he would have to hold it for a good thirty seconds. He flew away, choosing to dodge and charge rather than risk losing his hold on the blast. Luckily, in the air there was very little for Shadow to pass his bad luck onto.

At least that's what Danny thought. Until he heard a large crack, and turned to see Shadow smiling smugly by the side of a particularly large tree, that was now falling towards him.

"Uh-oh." Danny turned intangible just before the branches hit him, but the same could not be done for his energy ball, and the branches ripped through it, causing the gathering light to burst outward. Danny quickly shut his eyes to avoid being blinding, seeing the flash even through his eyelids.

He heard a startled shout, and quickly flew through the branches to see what happened. The Ice Ghost was leaning against the wall of the school, the bricks around him scorched from an ectoblast. Danny didn't know what happened, but he was sure the sudden release of energy distracted the Ice Ghost, so Kitty was able to land a lucky shot.

The Ice Ghost didn't actually looked harmed, just one of the benefits of his element. But that wasn't why Danny was staring. It had only been for a moment, just a moment. A sparking white and blue ring of electricity formed at the Ice Ghost's feet, revealing a pair of normal, human, black boots. The Ice Ghost's eyes widened, and the electric ring was quickly forced back down, but Danny had seen it.

He wasn't able to watch the rest of the Ice Ghost and Kitty's fight, since Shadow garnered his attention, but he caught glimpses of it. The Ice Ghost resorted to kicks and punches more than ghostly energy, but they weren't the sort of moves Danny used. Just like the ghost's stance, his fighting style was actually that, a style. It looked like a form of martial arts or something.

The next time Danny glanced over to see what the Ice Ghost was doing, Kitty was unconscious beside Johnny. Danny ducked away from Shadow's lunge, trying to maintain his energy ball. He kept losing focus and control, resulting in small bursts of light that ultimately did very little damage, but he couldn't help it. There was no way Danny could forget what he saw, and now it was nagging on his brain, pulling him away from the fight.

The Ice Ghost, after dealing with Kitty, saw that Danny was distracted and not focusing on the fight, and immediately decided to intervene. Before Shadow could swoop over to a lamppost he had been eying for some time, the Ice Ghost flew forwards and swung his fist out so the back of his hand connected with Shadow's chin. Instead of send the ghost reeling like it was supposed to, the shadowy mass just melted at the touch, and quickly reformed.

"Physical attack don't work!" Danny shouted to the Ice Ghost, pressing his palms together so he didn't lose control of the small orb growing in his hands. "We need light!"

Danny bobbed his hands, briefly displaying the flashing green energy to the Ice Ghost.

"How much?" The Ice ghost asked, flying away from Shadow to provide a distraction.

"It's not how much, it's where. It needs to touch his whole body, but this isn't enough," Danny explained, taking a moment to hover and concentrate now that Shadow was no longer focused on him. Danny could see the Ice Ghost nod, and was surprised when he flew towards Danny, going low to the ground and swiping his hand along the grass, before flying away again. A curved wall of ice quickly rose up. It was smooth, and the light of the sun sparkled off its surface.

"Refraction!" Danny exclaimed in understanding. It was one of the topics they had covered in science today, and thankfully the halfa had actually been paying attention. He flew towards the wall and positioned himself in front of the convex side. The Ice Ghost led Shadow around so they were both behind Danny.

"Ready!" Danny called the moment the energy ball had reached its peak size. Any more and he'd lose control of it again.

"Now!" The Ice Ghost answered, and Danny focused all the energy in his hands at the shield. The light burst outwards, streaming towards the glistening surface, and was reflected into the sky, an array of powerful green beams. He heard an agonized screech, and spun around once all the energy was free of his palms. The light was burning through Shadow's form, and the ghost started to stretch and dissipate, wispy tendrils of shadows breaking away and disappearing until there's nothing left.

Danny noticed the expression on the Ice Ghost's face as they watched. He looked almost guilty.

"He'll reform in a week or two, don't worry about it," Danny reassured him.

"Really?" The Ice Ghost said, his mood brightening as he floated down beside him.

"I guess I should thank you too. And, uh, sorry." Danny looked down at the ground, then back up again. "For attacking you, I mean. The other day. It was wrong for me to assume you were an enemy. With the little girl, I just thought…"

Danny trailed off and shrugged.

"Don't sweat it," the Ice Ghost said. "You thought I attacked her. You were just defending the people of the city. I just heard that she couldn't find her mother, that's all. So you don't have to worry. I'm a nice ghost."

Danny nodded, wondering what he would do if he didn't need to be a hero. "Hey, before, when you were fighting Kitty. Are you-?"

"Danny!"

Danny stopped talking and looked over his shoulder to see Sam and Tucker running towards him. Sam had a Fenton Thermos in her hands.

"We went to your place and got a new one, dude. Saw what Shadow did." Tucker gestured to the fried Fenton Thermos still lying in the grass.

"Thanks." Danny took the thermos and turned back to the Ice Ghost, intent on finishing his question, but he was gone. Danny looked around for any splash of blue in the area and found nothing.

"Huh." Danny paused, then shook his head and took the thermos, sucking Kitty and Johnny inside. He never did get to find out what that contest was Johnny mentioned.

 **###**

Danny didn't remember to tell his friends what he had seen until the next day as they were heading into school.

"That was some sort of transformation ring," he said as he finished his explanation.

"No way!" Tucker's eyes widened and he whipped out his PDA, pulling up the document on the Ice Ghost.

"And you're sure that's what you saw?" Sam asked.

"I'm sure. If anyone is going to know what transformation rings look like, it's me. Well, and Vlad, but I'd rather not ask for his opinion on this," Danny confirmed.

"This is big, this is really big," Sam said. "If you're right-"

"Which I am," Danny interrupted.

"-then there's another halfa," the Goth finished.

"There could be another portal, too," Tucker added, and elaborated when he saw his friends' questioning expressions. "Isn't that the only way a halfa is made? Portal interference, messes with the DNA or something."

"So far, yeah." Danny nodded. "But let's be honest, how much do we really know about halfas? There's me, and there's Vlad. We're powerful, stronger than normal ghosts, and we're not dead. That's sort of it. For all we know, there could be dozens of ways to become a halfa."

"But only one that's proven," Tucker pointed out.

"Yeah." The trio trudged up the school steps, forced to pass by a group of A-listers as they did.

"Make way, Fenturd." Dash sneered as he shoved Danny aside. "Hey, Alan!"

Danny glanced back to see Casper High's newest student approaching the front doors. He was looking apprehensively at the A-listers, and seemed reluctant as Dash reached out and pulled him into the group. Danny walked through the school doors, and he could just see Alan's face through the window. The halfa shook his head and turned back to his friends as they headed to their lockers.

Danny stopped and grabbed his best friends' shoulders. "Either way, how isn't really the problem right. We've got another question that needs to be answered. If the Ice Ghost is a halfa, who is he?"

The trio looked around the crowded hall, seeing all the familiar faces that had suddenly become his ghost sense was an extremely useful power, it also had a few downsides. First off, it didn't tell him where a ghost was. He knew when they were in the vicinity, but that was it. Most of the time he was lucky enough the ghost was boisterous and eager to show off, so it didn't really require any searching. But the problem he had now was the fact that it didn't go off more than once for a ghostly energy. When Johnny broke free, Danny's ghost sense went off. At the time he assumed it was because of Johnny himself, but now he suspected it was Shadow entering his range.

 _ **Hope you liked episode 2! Please review if you did :). See you next time!**_


	3. Infinite Realms

_**Now you readers will see this for a while. Since I didn't like a lot of Season 3's episodes, I thought I would redo them to make them better! Fortunately this is an episode that I thought wasn't so bad. But there are very importation changed in this one even if most of it is the same. So look out for them :)**_

Deep in the Ghost Zone, Danny Phantom was floating among the islands, a determined expression on his face. "Okay, Fenton. You've looked evil in the face and defeated it time and again. You can do this!"

As he spoke, reached around to his belt, where the Fenton Thermos was normally clipped, and pulled out… a map. Danny unfolded it in one swift movement and quirked his eyebrow at the dotted lines and crudely drawn islands. "We turn left at Skulker's island, then right at Walker's jail. Or is it a left at Walker's jail and right at Skulker's Island."

There was a loud hum as the Specter Speeder drove up behind him, Tucker at the controls, and Sam sitting beside him.

Sam's hands shifted to her hips as she looked at Danny. "Um, are we ever going home, or are we still playing 'lost in the ghost zone?'"

"We're not lost. My expertly drawn map tells me exactly where we are," Danny reassured her, turning to face his friends. He pointed to the map. "We hook a U-turn around this swirling vortex of infinite pain, and we're home."

Danny's smile dropped as he looked closer at the map. "Oh, wait. That's a thumb print."

"If we don't get back soon, I'm gonna die of starvation. I've already missed my four o'clock feeding!" Tucker threw his arms up, feeling the pains of hunger that came from missing one of his numerous feedings. He was on a tight feeding schedule, and one slip up could ruin his whole day.

"Would you guys quit complaining?" Danny asked, folding up the map and returning it to his pocket. "If we're gonna become a better ghost fighting team, we need to know the enemy's territory inside and out so we, uh, don't get lost."

Danny blinked as he realized the irony of the situation. They were completely, and utterly lost. In a mysterious alternate realm, or dimension, where all of Danny's enemies lived. At least they hadn't attacked yet. There was a sound of wailing behind, and Danny glanced over his shoulder to see two generic, formless ghosts flying by.

"Hey, ask them for directions," Sam urged, nodding towards the two ghosts.

"And snacks, ask for snacks," Tucker said, jumping desperately against the Speeder's glass covering. He was getting dangerously close to missing his next scheduled feeding.

"No, let's just follow them. They're bound to lead us somewhere," Danny suggested confidently. His legs melted together to form a ghostly tail, and he flew off after the two ghosts.

In the Speeder, Sam rolled her eyes. "Ugh. What is it with you guys not asking for directions?"

Tucker grabbed the control column and turned the Speeder to follow Danny. He set it on a straight path, then glanced at his watch. It was now five minutes past four.

"And now I've missed my 4:05 feeding!" Tucker wailed. He grabbed Sam's arms and prepared to make a final request. "If I don't make it, tell my PDA I love her. The cell phone meant nothing to me!"

Sam stared in disbelief at the dramatic techno geek, unsure what the proper way to handle this would be. Thankfully she was distracted by the sight of a giant tube made of snow and ice. The two ghosts dove inside, and Danny followed without hesitation. Meaning Sam and Tucker had to follow too. Tucker leaned on the control column and pulled up beside Danny.

"See? These guys seem to know their way around," Danny reassured his friends. "We'll be out of here in no time."

Danny had briefly closed his eyes, and didn't the stalagmite of ice standing right in his path. But he definitely felt it when it came to the face on collision. Sam and Tucker gasped, leaning forwards in their seats to look back at Danny. Tucker tugged on the control column to slow down, and looked forward when he remembered the reason for Danny's misfortune. But it wasn't in time, the Speeder collide with a much bigger wall of ice and snow.

Sam and Tucker screamed as they were thrown forwards, their seatbelts cutting into their chests. Rather than dropping heavily onto the tunnel floor, the Speeder fell, bouncing off ledges and overhangs as it went. On the ground below, Danny landed heavily, his fall cushioned by the snow. The halfa grimaced, gritting his teeth together, as aches and pains sprouted across his body. The Speeder missed crushing him by only three feet, and snow was thrown into the air. When it settled, Danny was covered in a layer of white powder. But besides his bruises, he was surprisingly unharmed. Just one of the benefits of being a ghost kid.

"Is everyone alright?" Danny asked as he stood up, brushing off the snow. Miraculously, they were.

"Besides being lost, almost killed, and now having no way home?" Sam asked, crossed her arms as she looked at Danny upside down through the glass cover. "Stellar."

Danny took in the sight of the Speeder belly up in the snow. It was heavily damaged, covered in dents and missing several metal plates in some places. A few pieces of tech were scattered in the snow around it, and he had no idea where they came from. It was a wonder how the front glass managed to stay intact.

"Oh man. My dad's gonna kill me." Danny groaned and buried his face in his hands. A shadow fell over him, accompanied by a deep growl, and Danny pulled his hands away to see a giant yeti. It wore a tattered blue cape, and one of its arms was made entirely of ice, along with the two horns on its head.

"He's not the only one!" Sam shouted from her seat within the Speeder. The yeti roared, raising its fists.

"Good boy, nice boy!" Danny said in panic, jumping into the air as the yeti brought its fists down where he had just been standing. Danny raised his own fisting, charging up a plasma beam.

"Lay down!" He thrust his fist forwards, and the beam hit the yeti, knocking it back against an outcropping of ice. The column shook, and several large icicles hanging off the top broke at their bases, piercing the snow around the yeti and trapping him.

"Very good." Danny smiled and approached the yeti, before heading back to his friends. "Next we'll work on fetching the paper.

Behind him, the yeti growled again and grabbed one of the icicles, ripping from the ground and throwing it at the halfa.

"Danny!" Sam and Tucker shouted in warning. Danny immediately readied dual plasma blasts and turned to face the threat. He blasted the icicle apart, and fired off another blast at the yeti. Unexpectedly, blue beams shot from the yeti's eyes and hit Danny's plasma beam. Rather than exploding or disintegrating, the beam froze into several chunks. The yeti caught one and threw it at the outcrop above Danny. The snow on top was dislodged, and buried the halfa.

Danny thrust his head through the snow, only managing to free one arm, and panted, trying to recover. The yeti roared, raising a clawed had and looking ready to strike. As the yeti's body turned, preparing for the swing, Danny noticed something. A small icicle lodged in the yeti's shoulder.

"Wait a minute." Danny's finger twitched, firing a minor plasma blast, and the icicle was dislodged. It spun through the air and landed in the snow.

The yeti's growling immediately ceased, dissolving into one clear syllable. "Huh?"

Its furious expression melted off its face, and was instead replaced by one of surprise. "The pain, it's gone."

Danny looked up as the yeti stepped closer, and easily pulled from the snow into a giant hug.

"Hahaha, thank you!" The yeti said enthusiastically.

Tucker and Sam watched from Specter Speeder, amused by the affectionate display.

"Aw, a boy and his snow monster," Sam crooned in amusement.

"Is there a greater love to be found anywhere?" Tucker jokingly asked.

"To whom do I owe my debt of gratitude?" The yeti asked. It released Danny from the hug and put him back down, brushing the excess snow out of the halfa's hair. The yeti's eyes widened. "You? The savior of the Ghost Zone?"

"Me?" Danny asked.

"The savior?" Sam elaborated.

"Of the Ghost Zone?" Tucker finished. All three of them were equally surprised by the statement.

"Oh, Great One," the yeti knelt in front of Danny, "behold your humble servant Frostbite, leader of the Far Frozen."

"Uh." Danny laughed nervously. "Uh, listen, I—uh—"

"Excuse me, your majesty," Sam said mockingly to Danny. "Do you think you could talk it—him—whatever, into helping us?"

"Yeah, I need nourishment stat," Tucker added.

"Yes!" Frostbite said, rising to his feet and smiling. "It is my honor to assist the Great One and his servants."

Frostbite approached the Speeder and picked up the vehicle, holding it on his shoulder.

"Servants?!" Sam asked in offense. Frostbite lifted Danny up onto his other shoulder.

"Silence, oh Sam of the Very Vegan," Danny commanded in an arrogant tone, crossing his legs and arms as he enjoyed the moment.

Frostbite started walking, oblivious to the annoyance of the Goth on his shoulder. "To my village shall we go, and a great feast shall we have!

 **###**

The Far Frozen was, as expected, a place made entirely of snow and ice, and inhabited by yetis like Frostbite. The land was riddled with caves, which the trio suspected either led to individual homes, or a giant underground city. In an open space where a large majority of the cave entrances were, two yetis were working on fixing the Specter Speeder. Despite their seemingly prehistoric dress of simple cloths and belts, they had great technological minds. Besides working yetis was a table laid out with the remains of Frostbite's promised feast, a banner before it reading 'All hail the Ghost Zone savior.' Across from the table was a cave with a slightly bigger entrance than the rest, guarded by two yetis with frozen spears. The icy walls were carved with pictures of Danny Phantom and his numerous fights.

"This shrine is dedicated to you, oh Great One," Frostbite announced.

Danny was looking at the drawings on the walls, and saw one of him fighting Pariah Dark. "So this is why they think I'm of the Ghost Zone savior. Because I defeated the ghost king."

The halfa pointed to the image for his friends, then to another only a few inches away. "That's him being locked in the Sarcophagus of Forever Sleep."

"Wow," Sam said, managing to sound only a little sarcastic. "In the world of freaky, hairy frozen people with bad breath, you're a legend."

Danny just smiled.

"It is my hope that our humble tribute pleases you, oh Great One." Frostbite bowed respectfully to the halfa.

"This is all swell Mr. Frostbite," Danny said, not wanting to be rude. "But we're kind of lost and-"

"Excellent!" Frostbite interrupted, then ran deeper into the cave. The trio followed, and they entered a cavern filled with pictures, maps, and treasures. In the middle of a room was a golden chest with a purple aura. Frostbite headed straight for it, pressing the palm of his frozen limb against a handprint on the front. The door swung open, and a scroll floated out of it, the purple aura shifting from the chest to the paper.

"Behold, the infi-map," Frostbite announced.

Infi-map?" The trio echoed.

"We have guarded it for millennia." Frostbite smiled proudly at the young ghost hunters, and touched the map. It rolled open, revealing a detailed image of the Ghost Zone, complete with a wavy grid of lines, green swirls in the background, and scattered purple doors. "It can lead the user to any entrance of the Ghost Zone."

Frostbite pressed a claw against the paper, and there was a purple glow. Several bursts of light shot outward, and several doors appeared above their heads.

"Any entrance?" Danny asked, his gaze jumping between the doors before settling on Frostbite. "I thought our portal and Vlad's porta were the only entrances."

"Your world as many natural entrances to the ghost zone that only the infi-map can reveal," the yeti explained. He raised his hand, and a screen floated down from the ceiling, displaying an image of a floating green triangle over the ocean. "For example, an area you call the Bermuda triangle."

"That explains all of those mysterious disappearances!" Sam said eagerly. "Everything that goes in comes to the Ghost Zone."

The screen showed a plane passing through the portal, and coming out the other side in the Ghost Zone. The pilots inside stared around in a mixture of disbelief and fear.

"Travelers pass quickly through until they find their way back," Frostbite continued. A new portal opened up in front of the plane on the screen.

"Yet, not necessarily in the time period from which they left." Rather than returning to flight above the ocean, the plane was shown soaring over a land of dinosaurs.

"So the map only leads you to Earth, but through time too?" Danny asked. The trio watched as the pilots quickly turned the plane around, heading back to the portal. But moments before they reached it, the portal popped out of existence.

"The Ghost Zone is constantly shifting. Entrances appear in many different periods. Most only remain open for a short time before closing forever. In the wrong hands, the map could be very dangerous. And you must never stray from its indicated path." Danny stepped forwards and grabbed the map, looking it over as Frostbite finished speaking. "Which is why I will be escorting you home."

"Wow, thanks," Danny said. Sam and Tucker moved to stand on either side of him, grabbing onto the map themselves as they looked. "So which way do we go?"

"The map can read your mind. I shall simply speak where I wish to go and the map will take us there." Frostbite placed a hand against his chest, then motioned to the map.

"You mean if I say 'Take us home' it will take us-"

The map suddenly started glowing purple, and the trio watched as a dotted white line crawled across the page, stretching from the Far Frozen to the Fenton ghost portal. The glow shifted to green, and enveloped the trio.

"Wait!" Frostbite called, reaching forwards to grab the map himself, but the trio was pulled away before he could do so. They clung to the map, a blur of green energy soaring across the frozen landscape, out into the open Zone, and through the Fenton portal. In no time at all they were standing in the Fenton Works lab.

"Woah! That was better than the Vomit Vortex at Floody Waters!" Tucker exclaimed, grinning at Danny. The halfa rolled the map back up.

"See?" He asked, looking at Sam. "I told ya I'd get us home."

"Frostbite didn't seem too keen on letting this out of his sight. We better get in back to him," Sam said as she took the map from Danny's hands. Danny didn't have the greatest track record when it came to keeping track of powerful, mystical objects.

"We will, Sam." Danny shrugged "But who says we can't check it out a little bit. After all, I am the savior of the Ghost Zone."

"Besides," Tucker added, leaning on Danny's shoulders. "Who's gonna know?"

 **###**

In the living room of his mansion, Vlad Masters was engaged in a great battle of wits. He took up his knight, and knocked aside his opponent's king.

"That's check and mate, Maddie," Vlad said, leaning back in his seat, looking victoriously at his opponent. Sitting on the other side of the chessboard, the white cat named Maddie meowed.

"I'm afraid it was a fair move," Vlad insisted, and sighed. "That's thirteen games to nothing. Once again I rule…"

Vlad rose from his seat and walked over to the window. Maddie followed, hopping up onto the sill and purring loudly as Vlad stroked her fur. "Patience, Vlad. Patience. Still, what should I do while I wait?"

Maddie meowed again.

"Splendid idea!" Vlad commended the cat. He walked over to the couch, taking up the remote. "Watching TV to view others less fortunate than myself is the perfect Pick-Me-Up. And remember, if anyone asks, you're my sister's cat.

Once more, Maddie meowed in response and curled up on the back of the couch.

Vlad turned on the TV "Let's see. Shopping with sycophants ...nah. Embarrassing Celebrity Arrests ...No. Hmm…"

Vlad tapped his armrest, wondering what to watch, as Maddie meowed again. He perked up as if the cat had actually spoken to him. "Hm. I guess it has been a while since I watched the Fentons with the secret cameras I have in their house."

The TV switched over from some horrible sitcom to a view of Fenton Works. Vlad flipped through the various camera displays, musing as he went.

"I wonder what lame invention Jack has come up with this week," Vlad jeered as he settled on the lab. But rather than seeing that great, orange buffoon, Danny and his friends were standing in the middle of the lab with an open scroll in their hands. Danny lowered his hands, and the scroll tilted back just enough for Vlad to see what it was. He gasped. "It can't be! Drat! Daniel got the Infi-Map before I did!"

"We take a quick trip, come home, and send the map back. What's the harm?" Danny asked, his voice carrying over from the microphones in the camera. Vlad lifts the remote in his hand, and poises his thumb over one of the center buttons. He's about to press it when he hesitates.

"Should I follow him? It might blow the plan."

From her spot on the couch, Maddie meows.

"You're right. It is said that the Infi-Map is guarded by a very powerful group of ghosts. Taking it from Daniel should save time." He presses the button, and the view of the camera starts to shift as the Plasmius Fly Spy Cam, one of Vlad's few original inventions, releases its hold on the wall. It flies towards the trio and zeroes in on Sam's spider backpack, latching on to one of the eight dangling legs.

"Infi-map, take us to… uh… where do we wanna go anyway?" Danny asked, looking at his friends.

"I don't know." Tucker shrugged. "Anywhere would be-"

The map glowed again, and this time the path that appeared was meandering, twisting around and looping back and forth, ending at a random point in the Ghost Zone. The map lurched through the portal, pulling the trio with it. Danny was grinning, while Sam and Tucker yelled in surprise. They were dragged through the Ghost Zone, flying through a trail of rings of rock, before skimming just above a yellow river.

"According to the map," Danny said, pointing to the odd colored water below them, "this is the River of Revulsion."

"Why is it called that? Besides the smell, I mean." Tucker winced, raising a hand to his nose. Up ahead a monster the same color as the water rose out of the river, and opened its maw. It burped long and loud, releasing a stream of noxious purple gas. The map faltered and the trio groaned, momentarily losing their hold. Before it could take off again, Danny grabbed the scroll, while Tucker grabbed his feet, and Sam grabbed Tucker's feet.

The map took them to a canyon with pink and red walls, lined with thin, white spikes.

"This is Carnivorous Canyon. The entire place is one big," a loud rumbling interrupted Danny's explanation, and the map quickly pulled them away while the halfa shouted, "mouth!"

They touched down on a purple circle, the inside a swirling green portal.

"Not exactly the Bermuda Triangle," Danny said, a bit unimpressed with their landing spot.

"Well, it's not on the path. Frostbite said not to stray from the path." Sam pointed to the map, and where the white line completely passed by this portal.

"Just for a second or two," Danny insisted. "We go in, look around, and get out before it closes. I promise."

The trio jumped, and were unceremoniously deposited under a bed. They could hear a young voice above them.

"Mom, are you sure there are no ghosts under my bed?"

A calendar on the wall reveals it's the year 1942.

"Of course not, Billy," the child's mother reassured him. "Remember what President Roosevelt said. We have nothing to be afraid of but fear itself."

Unable to resist, Danny phased his head and shoulders through the bed and looked at the mother. "Actually, it was nothing to fear but fear itself."

The mother and Billy screamed, and Danny ducked back under the bed. The trio jumped through the portal above their heads, and Tucker made it through just before it closed.

"Great, we just scarred a child for life," Sam said, glaring at Danny.

"I just wanted to make sure she didn't mess up the one historical quote I actually remember," Danny defended himself, and reopened the map. "You guys up for finding another hidden—portal!"

The map glowed, another path appeared, and they were once again dragged away before Danny had even finished speaking, so his final word was a surprised shout. They're taken through a portal and appear in a room filled with spinning cogs and gears. It reminds Danny of Clockwork's home, and when he flies out of down to the ground, taking Sam and Tucker with him, he can see that it is a clock tower. The trio peers around the corner of the building, and sees everyone is dressed in pilgrim clothes.

"Cool, it's Thanksgiving," Tucker exclaimed, eager to eat.

"No, it's Salim Massachusetts back in the 1600s," Sam corrected him as they walked into the street. "The paranoid villagers used to punish completely innocent people because they thought they were witches."

"How?" Tucker asked.

"Oh, no big deal really. They just burned them to a stake."

A mob of villagers ran by, several of them carrying flaming torches and pitchforks. They surround a pile of wood in the village center and raise up a witch made of hay.

"Well done, Joshua," one the villagers said, holding up an hour glass that still had a fair bit of sand in the top half. "That was your best time yet."

"I'm a big barbeque fan but that's going too far." Tucker shuddered.

"Let's bale," Danny insisted. "The longer we're here the more chance we have of messing something up."

But it was too late. Sam marched forwards, pointing angrily at the villagers. "Can't you people get a life?"

She walks right over a baited net and is hoisted into the air. Her backpack falls through the gaps in the rope. "Hey!"

Sam!" Danny and Tucker shout.

"Let me go! I'm not a which!" Sam yelled.

"Don't listen to her!" Another villager, sporting a long coat and wide hat, steps forwards. He removes the hat, revealing the familiar grey hair and ponytail of Vlad Masters. "She is a witch! And you know what we do to witches around here."

 **###**

Sam was in a cart, tied to a pole, and being paraded through the town. The pilgrims were cheering and jeering, shaking their pitchforks and waving their torches in Sam's face.

"Ah, mob mentality. Such a soothing sound," Vlad mused from within the crowd.

By the clock tower, Tucker and Danny were watching the spectacle, wondering how they were going to help Sam, and deal with Vlad.

"The portal's gonna close soon! How the heck did Vlad find us anyway?" Danny asked, searching for the older halfa in angry mob.

Tucker, having some idea of how Vlad could have done just that, quickly started looking around. He saw Sam's backpack lying in the road, and the Plasmius Fly Spy Cam latched onto one of the decorative legs. "Bingo! Tracking device."

"I'm not a witch! Are you people that paranoid?!" Sam shouted as she was moved from the cart to the middle of the wood pile. Then remembered when she was, and were she was. "Oh, wait. Salim, 1600s. Duh."

Danny shoved the Infi-map into Tucker's hands, deciding he couldn't wait any longer, and flew towards Sam.

"Right on cue," Vlad muttered, seeing the hero fly, then started shouting. "Behold! An evil spirit comes to rescue his dark mistress!"

The crowds shouts increased, and a huge figure leapt impossibly high from somewhere at the back. It was a large man, wearing a bright orange coat, with a rather familiar design.

"Stand back!" The man shouted, waving a basket about and holding out his arms as a shield. "For I, John Fenton Nightingale, Salim's greatest witch whacker, shall vanquish this demon!"

"Déjà vu," Tucker said, staring at Danny's ancestor, who looked exactly like Danny's father.

John Fenton Nightingale ran around the witch's pyre, scattering flowers with red petals and purple leaves. They flowers started hissing and releasing a bright red toxin. Danny just rolled his eyes at the vanquishing flowers. He was ghost, what the heck were a couple plants supposed to do?

"Are you kidding with-" Rather than harmlessly passing through the gas, Danny collided with it as if it were solid, and his body started convulsing as pain spread through his limbs. After several seconds, he was thrown away from the wall of gas, and a red steam continued to rise out of him despite the distance between them. "What was-?"

John pulled out two pieces of bread, and squished several flowers between them. "And it doth maketh a tasty treat!"

He took a big bite out of the sandwich. "Ah, my innards are now ghost free."

"Well done, John Fenton Nightingale!" Vlad clapped and walked up to Danny. "It's called blood blossom dear boy. An ancient anti-ghost remedy. Sort of like a primitive Spector Deflector."

Vlad grabbed the front of Danny's jumpsuit, and hoisted the younger halfa above his head. "Observe! The spirit is vanquished!"

Danny was thrown into the ring of blood blossoms, and he immediately started screaming in pain.

"Danny!" Sam shouted, struggling against the ropes binding her to try and reach her friend. Tucker ran forwards, and Vlad easily pulled the Infi-map out of his hands. Tucker stalled and turned, seeing Vlad flee as he transformed into his ghost half. He scooped up Sam's backpack.

"Oh, no you don't!" Tucker grabbed the Plasmius Fly Spy Cam and threw it at Vlad. It latched onto the back of the villain's cape just before he turned intangible.

Vlad phased into the clock tower and opened the map. Several doors appeared before him. "Incredible! It's even more beautiful than I could ever have imagined. And it if the legends are true…"

He laughed darkly as he flew back into the portal.

Down in the town center, Tucker had just reached Danny and grabbed his arms.

"Tucker! Get Danny out of the circle!" Sam commanded.

Tucker dragged the halfa through the line of flowers, and pulled him a fair distance away. But Danny was still screaming and groaning. "It's still hurting him!"

"Then get rid of it!" Sam yelled.

"How?!"

Sam looked around, gasping, as she tried to think of something. Then remembered the actions of John Fenton Nightingale. "Your cast iron stomach! Tucker, you've got to eat all of the blood blossoms."

"What?! But I've never eaten a vegetable in my life!"

Sam looked at Danny, whose yells were growing fainter, and not because it hurt less. "Hurry! There's not much time."

Tucker pinched his nose and grabbed one of the blossoms, giving it a speculative looker, before shoving it in his mouth. He crawled around the circle, taking up all the blossoms and eating them. When the last flower was gone, the red gas disappeared, and Danny stopped groaning.

"Thanks, Tuck," he said, his voice slightly raspy.

"You owe me for this one." Tucker burped. "Dude."

As they stood, pitchforks were shoved towards their faces, and Danny and Tucker were forced to stand back to back. In all the panic, they had forgotten about the villagers. It was extremely lucky they hadn't decided to intervene until now.

"And you can pay me back right now!" Tucker said. Danny grabbed him and flew up over the crowd to Sam. He wrapped an arm around her waist, then turned all three of them intangible. They phased into the clock tower and stopped before the portal.

"Vlad has the map, he could be anywhere," Danny said as he released his friends.

"Fear not. All I have to do is calibrate my PDA to his tracking device frequency and we can follow him wherever he goes." Tucker pulled out his device and tapped the screen several times with his stylus. A map of the Ghost Zone, copied directly from the Infi-map, filled the screen, and Vlad's trail was illuminated. Danny grabbed his friends once more and flew them through the portal before it could close.

"I'm curious to see how body that's never eaten any vegies reacts when 30 pound soft it is suddenly introduced," Sam said smugly.

Tucker paused his typing on the PDA. "Don't get your hopes up, Sam. We Foleys can handle anything"

Tucker's stomach chose that moment to growl and protest the presence of vegetables. "And we'll talk about it more right after I hit a restroom. He's in there!"

Tucker pointed to a familiar portal, and Danny aimed straight for it.

 **###**

Infi-map in hand, Vlad flew through his portal and into the lab in his basement. Maddie the cat was there, perched on one of the work tables. She meowed excitedly at his presence.

"Ah, today was a good day, Maddie. Getting the Infi-map is a true success." Vlad held his hand out, and Maddie trotted forwards, eager to be petted.

"I don't think so, Plasmius."

Vlad spun around to see the trio emerging from his portal.

"Wow, you really did get a cat. You should take my advice more often." Danny held out his hand. "Here's another tip. Give us back the Infi-map."

"You're alive?!" Vlad gasped. "How did you even follow me?"

"That's none of your business!" Tucker stated firmly, quickly hiding his PDA behind his back.

"The map isn't meant for you. You don't know how powerful it is," Sam insisted, taking a step forwards.

"And a couple of fifteen-year-olds do?" Vlad asked condescendingly. "Please. If anyone know what this thing can do, it's me."

Danny charged a small ecto-blast on his finger and fired it at Vlad's hand. Plasmius yelped, jerking his arm, and the map was tossed into the air. Danny leapt forwards and grabbed it.

"Infi-map! Get us out of here!" Danny grabbed his friends before the map could start glowing, but Vlad was quick too. He latched onto the scroll on the other end and punched Danny, making him lose his grip.

"Nice try-" Vlad gloated, before he was suddenly yanked away, "-Danieeeel!"

"Come on!" Still holding Sam and Tucker, Danny flew them back into the Ghost Zone.

"Now where?" Danny and Sam asked at the same time.

Tucker started typing on his PDA again, and grinned in triumph. "Over here!"

Danny flew them to where he pointed, passing through a rather nondescript portal.

Some seconds before them, Vlad flew through the very same portal. He had just enough time to see the lack, grassy hills and plains, and mutter "What the?!" before the trio was there.

"Give me the map!" Danny commanded, dropping his friends on the ground before zeroing in on Vlad.

"Never!" Vlad fired off a volley of ecto-blasts, and Danny swerved to dodge, returning fire.

"Oops," Vlad gasped, though he didn't sound too worried. Danny turned to see that one of Vlad's stray ecto-blasts had hit something. Not just anything. They were in 1903, and it was the first ever airplane. It was one of the few historical advancements Danny knew well. Now, with two holes in its wings, it would never actually fly and was already careening towards the ground.

Quickly, Danny blasted Vlad, snatching up the map, and turned invisible before flying over to help the plane land. He flew under the ravaged wing and held it up, levelling the plane out so it glided smoothly along the grass. The pilot, Orville Wright, clambered out of the plane as his brother congratulated him before a cheering crowd of spectators.

"Smile, boys!" A man with a camera said. The Wright brothers posed in front of their plane and Danny, still invisible, jumped between them just as the picture was taken. Only he would ever know there were three people, rather than two, in the capturing of this historical moment. As soon as the camera was lowered, Danny grabbed Sam and Tucker and flew back into the Ghost Zone. He burst out of the portal and looked back over his shoulder, wondering if Vlad would follow them in time. And if it's okay he's a little disappointed when the vampiric halfa does just that seconds later.

Danny sped up, straining to fly faster than his nemesis. But with Tucker and Sam clinging to him he couldn't reach full speed, and seconds Vlad is right behind them. Danny swerved in an attempt to break away. But Vlad just swooped underneath him, grabbed the maps, and kicked Danny in the stomach.

"Ah!" Sam and Tucker yelled as Danny suddenly released them. They scrambled to wrap their arms around his waist. Danny himself struggled to maintain hold of the map.

Vlad growled and charged his fist with ectoplasmic energy, striking the younger halfa in the chest. Danny's grip slipped a little more, but he refused to let go. They had to get the map back to Frostbite. Attempting to counter, Danny charged his fist with ectoplasm and struck at Vlad. Being a lot quicker, Plasmius simply created a pink ecto-dome around himself right before the young halfa's fist connected with it. It was at that moment the map started to glow again, sparking with pink and green electricity.

"Uh, is that a bad thing?" Tucker asked, sounding surprisingly calm despite the situation. Although, considering everything the trio had gotten into in the past, another battle with Vlad really wasn't as scary for them as it would be for other people.

The world around them flickered, and suddenly they weren't in the Ghost Zone anymore. Judging by the buildings and people around them, they were in Asia. More than that, they were in ancient China.

"Does that answer your question?" Sam shot back sarcastically. She and Tucker let go of Danny's waist so they could drop to the ground, and the Goth started dusting off her skirt. Danny floated down beside them and looked around in confusion.

"How did-?" His question was cut off as an ecto-blast soared through the crowd and hit Danny in the back, sending him skidding along the gravel road. The regular citizens around them started screaming and running in fear, and several armored Ming Warriors bled through the fleeing crowd, their swords raised in a threatening manner. The trio and Vlad were quickly surrounded.

"Oh, please." Vlad scoffed and rolled his eyes. His arm barely twitched, and an ecto-wave spread out around him, decimating the warriors. Sam and Tucker had the mind to duck and avoid the attack, but Danny was only just getting up after the first blast, and was thrown back once again.

Danny groaned, blinking wearily and panting lightly. After all the flying, and carrying his friends around, he was getting tired. He rolled onto his back and saw Vlad charging toward him. Thinking fast, Danny snatched up one of the warriors' dropped swords, gave it some ecto-energy and flung it at Plasmius. His aim was true, but Vlad had more than enough time to dodge.

"You want to play with swords, boy? Fine." Vlad curled his fists and pressed them together, like he was holding a baseball bat, and a blade of pink energy formed, a deadly sword of ectoplasm. Vlad slashed, and Danny clapped his hands together, just barely catching the blade. Honestly, he was surprised the little stunt worked. Danny thought that was just a bit for the movies. Although the ghostly durability probably helped stop his palms from being sliced off, not to mention the thick gloves.

Danny tilted his head, looking around the blade, and shot Vlad in the face with two strong eye beams.

"Ah, my eyes!" Vlad cried as he was thrown back, dropping the Infi-Map. Seeing their chance of escape while Vlad was checking to make sure he didn't go blind, Danny snatched up the mask and flew by Sam and Tucker. They grabbed onto him and were lifted off the ground.

"Map, get us back to the Ghost Zone!" Danny commanded. This time the paper didn't spark, just glowed as normal. Just before they were yanked away, Tucker felt something close around his ankle, and looked down to see Vlad.

"Hey!" Tucker protested, and started kicking Plasmius with his other foot. Vlad held fast until they were out into the open Zone. Too caught up in the escape, Danny didn't notice Vlad hitching a ride, and made his next command.

"Take us to the Land of the Far Frozen!" His final word was clipped as Vlad blasted his side, and Danny lost hold of the map.

"Aha!" Vlad grabbed the glowing article, and gave a mocking wave as he was pulled along.

"Darn it! Again?!" Danny shouted. If he wasn't floating in the free air, he probably would have probably would have stamped his foot. As it was, he settled for crossing his arms and glowering at the fading trail of the map's energy.

"Well, at least we know where he's going," Sam offered, nudging Danny in the direction they needed to go.

 **###**

Vlad flew out the portal the map took him to, and was incredibly surprised to see a frozen wasteland, and the green sky of the Ghost Zone still looming overhead.

"Where in the Ghost Zone am I?" Vlad cursed, looking around. He didn't recognize this place, and was fairly certain he had never even heard of it. He would have to have a few words with Skulker over the 'detailed hunting maps' the metal suited ghost had supplied. "This place is nothing but ice, snow, and hopelessness!"

Vlad's shadow was eclipsed by a much larger one as a voice rumbled behind him.

"I disagree." He spun around to see a several yetis, the one in front sporting a blue cape. He was the one who had spoken.

"And I'd appreciate the prompt return of hour map," Frostbite said, holding out his hand.

"Ha! You're map?!" Vlad laughed. "That is funny. This map is mine, you abominable snow freak! Forever!"

Vlad grinned victoriously, but the yetis hadn't stopped smiling. There was a high pitched hum as their eyes started glowing blue, and the yetis advanced to surround him. Looking at the yetis, Vlad remembered something very important. The book said the Infi-map was supposed to be guarded by very powerful ghosts. The halfa now knew he had the unfortunate luck of finding them, with said map in hand.

"Oh, butter biscuits," Vlad grumbled, and everything exploded blue.

 **###**

When the trio flew arrived, Vlad was long gone, and Frostbite was waiting for them with the Infi-map in his hands, and the repaired Specter Speeder by his side.

"Sorry things got out of hand," Danny said while Sam and Tucker loaded into the Speeder.

"No need for apologies, Great One. And no harm done," Frostbite said.

"Let's get home," Tucker said, already in the driver's seat with his hands on the control column. "This time, I input the directions into my PDA."

Danny smirked. That was probably a good idea. Chasing, fighting, and flying away from Vlad all day he could do. Navigation wasn't really his thing.

"Thanks for everything," the trio chorused.

"Thank you, Danny Phantom, for everything we still have. Here you are always welcome.

"And thanks for letting me use the restroom," Tucker added as Danny climbed into the Speeder. His stomach was still unsettled after eating all those ridiculous vegetables. That would be the last time ever did something like that. Before he closed the door, Tucker remembered something important. "But two words of advice: seat warmers."

He shot the yetis a grin as the door shut, and Danny waved through the small window. The Speeder's engines powered up, and it shot into the sky.

The yetis watched for a moment, and the one standing next to Frostbite turned to his leader.

"Will he ever return?" The yeti asked.

"Indeed he will," Frostbite said, still staring after the Speeder. "He has more in coming with us than he realizes."

Frostbite only turned away when the Speeder was out of view, wondering how long it would be until the Great One visited again. He hoped, above all else, that it wouldn't be under dire circumstances. But he knew, better than anyone, that coming into abilities like that was not an easy feat.

"Good luck, Danny Phantom," Frostbite said with a smile.

 **Did you catch the changed? Hope so and hoped you liked it! See you next Episode!**

 **BTW. PLEASE check out Unlucky Alis :3 she really helps a lot with these episodes! Here's her link.**

 **u/7128228/**


	4. Mystery Meet 2

_**Sorry for the slight delay. I was eaten alive by a bear :O. JK :P It just took some time to finish. This one is shorter than I would have liked but I hope you like it! Also! Please review the episodes. IT makes me happy to see a lot of reviews and they could even help with the future episodes!**_

Danny's day had been surprisingly relaxing. There had been a minor ghost attack during lunch, nothing big, and he had actually been able to pay attention in class. Or he had the opportunity too. But old habits die hard, and try as he might, Danny just couldn't get invested in calculus. He was honestly impressed with Mikey's ability to devote himself to the class. It was the last class of the day, and the teacher had given them a few minutes of free conversation, rather than struggling to hold the teenagers' attention when it couldn't be held. The trio were huddled at the back of the class, discussing an important revelation they had been keeping out of mind for the past couple days.

"He's definitely from Casper," Danny said, looking around the room.

"Uh, why?" Tucker asked.

"Because he responded to Desiree's attack as fast as Danny did. The other high schools are way too far for that," Sam explained.

"But what if the Ice Ghost doesn't even have a ghost sense, and uses some kind of equipment? Or maybe his ghost sense has a wider range than yours," Tucker suggested.

"I mean, I guess. We don't really have proof either way. I've never seen another ghost with a ghost sense." Danny shrugged.

"Wait, not even Vlad?" Tucker looked bewildered.

"Not even Vlad."

"Okay, forget about ghost senses. We need to focus. Who is the Ice Ghost?" Sam asked.

"I mean, it should be easy enough to guess, right? Vlad and I sort of just reverse colors when we change. Black hair turns white, white to black, blue eyes turn green, grey eyes turn red. It's pretty straight forward," Danny answered.

Sam nodded slowly. "But the Ice Ghost has blue hair. Does that mean you think his human form has green?"

"It could, I don't know," Danny huffed defensively.

"What about his skin? I'm pretty sure that won't be green," Tucker reminded them.

"No. My skin actually tans when I change, but Vlad's turns blue," Danny said. That was something he never really got about his transformation. Both he and Vlad were considerably pale, and the rest of their color changes seemed logical enough. There was a possibility it could be a genetics thing, or maybe the different ways they became halfas. But none of that would help with the Ice Ghost's identity.

"Mine turned green when I was a ghost," Tucker added.

"I don't think we'll get much out of his color scheme," Sam drawled. "We should focus more on his build."

"Okay." Tucker whipped out his PDA and pulled up a couple photos of the Ice Ghost, extracting measurements from them. "He has a pretty standard height and build. The only person with a close enough hairstyle is that freshman with the red hair, and he's totally not the right size."

Danny peered over Tucker's arm to see various images of their classmates flashing by beside one of the Ice Ghost. He caught a few glimpses of people. Nathan and Lester, not fit enough. Dash and Kwan, too fit. NO MATCHES flashed across the screen in big red letters.

"Huh. Maybe I should update this, it has been almost a year." Tucker shrugged and tucked the PDA back into his pocket.

"Dude, why do you even have that in the first place?" Danny asked.

"Helping the nurse categorize records of physical assessments," Tucker explained. "And looking out for a date."

"That's… creepy," Sam deadpanned, and Danny couldn't help but grin at the irony of it. "Not just that. But you, Tucker Foley, willingly entered the nurses' station?"

"What? No way. We used the library." Tucker scoffed and shook his head. One trot through a hospital was enough for his lifetime. There was no way he'd go anywhere near even a nurses' station after that.

"Great. Any ideas?" Danny asked.

Tucker shrugged. "Deduction?"

"With the Duke of straight Ds?" Sam asked, smirking at Danny.

"I brought my average up to a C," Danny defended himself. "Besides, I-"

Conversations dropped as the bell went.

"-am out of here," Danny finished, swinging his backpack over his shoulder. "New Doom update today!"

"Introducing the destroyer mod! If you land a critical hit, your enemy explodes," Tucker gushed, quickly following Danny out of the classroom. Sam gathered her things and ran after them. She pushed between the two boys and thrust her hands out to stop them.

"I like exploding enemies as much as you guys, but aren't you forgetting something?" Sam asked.

"Ice Ghost," Tucker and Danny groaned in unison.

"Yeah, Ice Ghost. Any 'brilliant' ideas?"

"He's a teenager," Danny droned.

"He's a dude," Tucker piped up. Sam rolled her eyes as they left the school. This was going to be a long walk home.

 **###**

It never truly felt like nighttime in Amity Park. Not for some fantastic, magical reason. Simply because the Fenton Works sign was so bright, it could be seen from almost anywhere across Amity Park. There were few places to go where it couldn't be seen. The tallest buildings in Amity Park were not one of those places, but it's where the Ice Ghost had chosen to sit and meditate. It was almost impressive, how often ghosts were attacking. It was nice to find a moment of peace and quiet.

Which was broken the moment his ghost sense went off.

The Ice Ghost opened his eyes as the frosty breath dissipated, unfolded his legs and rose to his feet.

"So, are you that new ghost that's been a hero here?"

The Ice Ghost turned towards the new voice. It was another ghost, which wasn't surprising. The building he chose didn't have proper roof access, only a ghost could have gotten up there. The ghost's clothes were dark. Hoodie, jeans, fingerless gloves. Besides the splash of white on his shoes, the only colour on the ghost was his red eyes. Even his hair was dark, and his skin was a pale grey. Overall, he didn't look friendly. And there was something unnerving about his gaze. Probably how his irises were a thing ring.

Unsure how to respond, the Ice Ghost remained on guard and hesitated before answering, "…Yeah, I guess."

"Ice Cicle, right?"

The Ice Ghost sighed. He had heard of Phantom's unfortunate media nickname, Inviso-Bill, and knew it would only be a matter of time before he got one too. He just didn't it would be that bad. At least Inviso-Bill was a play words. Ice Cicle was just icicle with a space.

"What? Don't like to be called that?" The ghost asked, smirking.

"Don't have much of a choice," the Ice Ghost shrugged. He didn't have a name to give the media.

"Sure you do. You're also half human, correct?" The Ice Ghost had no idea how he knew that. "Would you prefer if I called you by your real name?"

"…I prefer not to tell you my identity. Sorry."

"Eh, your choice, friend," the ghost said chalantly.

"So, what do I call you?"

"Jackson. My name is Jackson."

"Okay. So you're not here to fight?" From the Ice Ghost's experience so far, Amity Park attackers tended to, well, attack right away. They didn't stop by to chat first. He knew there were some good ghosts out there, like Phantom. Maybe this Jackson could be one of them, despite his appearance.

"Well, not exactly. I wanted to see just how powerful you are. If it's not too much to ask, mind if we have a little sparring match?" Jackson floated forwards, an eager expression on his face.

The Ice Ghost hesitated again. He didn't much like fighting, unless he actually had a reason to, like protecting someone or keeping Amity safe. He didn't fight for sport. But maybe it wouldn't be bad to do it once. If it's just a spar, it could be just like training. Some of that sparring could be fierce. "Uh, sure?"

"Alright, thanks!" Jackson smile widened, and the Ice Ghost's unease doubled, but he returned the gesture. Even if his smile was a lot smaller. He was still cautious.

"Let's try and fight in the sky." The Ice Ghost floated up off the roof. "I can't have anyone hurt."

"You got it," Jackson agreed. They flew upwards, the Ice Ghost watching the ground below. He stopped when they were at a height he deemed safe enough, and Jackson followed. The Ice Ghost fell into his defensive stance. It probably would have been strange to some, how he floated like he was standing on solid ground. Most ghosts, even the other halfas, chose to let their feet hang, or bent their knees. But this is what felt comfortable to him.

"Ready when you are," the Ice Ghost said.

"Right! Remember, don't go easy on me!" Jackson answered.

The Ice Ghost nodded, but also made a silent vow to use only the necessary amount of force. This wasn't a real battle, he didn't want to badly hurt his opponent. Before he had even finished the thought, Jackson charged with incredible speed. When he neared, his right leg shot out. The Ice Ghost was almost caught off guard, but he managed to rise his left arm and block it in time. Jackson hooked his foot around the Ice Ghost's arm and yanked, trying to throw him off balance. In response, the blue ghost drops to avoid another kick.

Jackson continues his onslaught, sending a furious combination of kicks and punches at the Ice Ghost. He continues to dodge and block, trying to get a feel for his opponent's fighting style before retaliating. Jackson was strong, and every time the Ice Ghost blocked on the blows, pain would radiate through his arms. This definitely wasn't the fight he was expecting.

The force of Jackson's next hit sent him backwards, and while the Ice Ghost was trying to regain control of his momentum, Jackson attacked. He delivered a powerful frontward flip kick, and managed to land a hit on the Ice Ghost's head. The Ice Ghost dropped a few meters before he caught himself with some difficulty. For a moment the world was fuzzy as he struggled to recover.

Jackson was seriously strong, and the Ice Ghost knew he had to stop going easy, knew why Jackson didn't want him to go easy. It was time to attack.

The Ice Ghost flew towards his Jackson, and the darker ghost prepared to block the attack, crossing his forearms in front of his chest. Right before the Ice Ghost struck, he turned invisible and intangible. All Jackson felt was a cold chill through his body before receiving a sharp, open hand chop where his neck and shoulder met. Jackson recovered quickly and turned around to fight. The Ice Ghost fell back onto the defensive again, and fought off another brutal attack.

He swept away Jackson's punches, sliding to the side and forcing Jackson's fist away. With the darker ghost's chest open, the Ice Ghost hit him with a palm strike to the torso and started his own barrage. Side kicks, fist strikes, and knife attacks delivered one after the other in a fluid motion of attack. But one of his hits missed, and Jackson took that opportunity to kick the Ice Ghost in the chest. It was blocked again by a raised arm, but the Ice Ghost was certain that if he hadn't been a halfa with powerful endurance, it could have broken a bone. His arm ached, the area of contact pulsing with pain. He was lowering his arms when Jackson sent a powerful punch, practically blowing the Ice Ghost away. He hurtled backwards, unable to turn his fall into a flight until he was almost at roof height again. But he didn't get a moment to rest, and as soon as he turned a pink orb of energy filled his vision.

The Ice Ghost didn't have time to throw up a shield or fire his own blast to negate it. But if he ducked, the stray blast would go down to the streets below. Instead he shielded his body as best as he could and took the hit.

"Yo! Careful with those ecto-blasts. If we accidentally hurt someone, I'm calling this fight off," he shouted. This was turning into a serious fight, nothing the like the spars he expected it to compare to.

"Right, sorry," Jackson called back, not sounding particularly apologetic. A whip whip whip sound grew louder, and the Ice Ghost chanced a look behind him. A news helicopter had risen above the buildings to get above them and film the fight. He was certain they had gone high enough that no one would notice, but the ectoblast must have drawn someone's attention. Or the people of Amity Park were more observant than he thought.

"Oh boy," he muttered. The helicopter was way too close to the fight. They could get hurt.

"I don't see anything wrong with it. As long as they don't disturb this match." Jackson gestured to the copter, his palm still smoking with pink energy after the recently released blast.

"Okay. No shooting ecto-blasts from on out, though," the Ice Ghost informed him. It wasn't a request.

"Alright." The smoke rising from Jackson's hand snaked around to encase his fist in glowing pink energy. "My ecto-energy will be limited to this."

Immediately noting the advantage Jackson would have, the Ice Ghost charged his own fists, which glowed green. Following the normal theme of their fight, Jackson charged first. The Ice Ghost smirked and dropped into his regular stance. Instead of using his arms, he thrust his hand out and caught Jackson's punch in his palm. Their two energies collided and burst into a harmless explosion, like a firework, brightening the night sky with pink and green energy.

"He he, I'm happy!" Jackson crowed as he blocked the Ice Ghost's retaliating punch. "You're finally showing me your true strength."

 **###**

On the ground, the people of Amity Park were captivated by the fight, astonished at what they saw. The sky looked beautiful with the colourful explosions going off with every hit or block. All across the city, people were cheering at the sight of the ecto explosions, whether it be in person or through the TV. Many were amazed by the skill Ice Cicle was displaying, the Fentons among them.

Back at Fenton Works, the family was watching the fight from the Ops-centre. Maddie and Jack were analyzing the ghosts' movements and taking notes. They would have liked to be up there taking down those horrid clusters of post-human consciousness, but without activating the Ops-centre, they didn't have any way of getting up there.

"Those ghosts are really powerful," Jazz commented, taking her own notes for the purposes of ghost psychology. "That Ice Cicle has an interesting style.

"Wow, Mads! I've never seen ghosts battle like this!" Jack commented.

"Yes, honey. It's strange. Ice Cicle is fighting in a way I've never seen other ghosts do before. It's actually using a form of martial arts, look at its form."

"Just like you, baby!" Jack grinned, then his expression turns serious. "These ecto-beings are learning fast! We have to be extra careful. We need more weapons… and fudge!"

"Why are they even fighting?" Jazz mused. She saw Danny fight ghosts all the time, but that always had a purpose. Because his enemies were attacking or terrorizing the citizens, and he needed to fend them off. No one had even noticed these ghosts until they were well into their fight, which meant there hadn't been any kind of disturbance to warrant an attack on Ice Cicle's part.

"I'm not sure, Jazzypants," Jack answered.

Danny was standing apart from his family, lost in thought. He couldn't tear his eyes away from the fight, especially the Ice Ghost. He still couldn't believe the media gave the ghost that stupid name. Well, he could, because of his own experience, but it still managed to astound him.

But that didn't matter right now. What did was the Ice Ghost's level of skill at hand to hand combat. Danny had to struggle to learn to fight as he went. Even now he still struggled. He didn't have any experience with fighting before that first attack by the Lunch Lady. Over time he developed his own style, but it wasn't really a style at all. Just kicks, punches, and ecto-blasts whenever he could. But it's obvious the Ice Ghost actually has some kind of formal training. It's… impressive. Not only that, but the ghost he's fighting is strong. The fight had slowly drifted closer to Fenton Works, though luckily still out of range for the elder Fentons to intervene, and Danny could easily see how the Ice Ghost was actually being hurt by the attacks sent his way.

During their own fight, the Ice Ghost hadn't used this level of skill. Danny's attacks didn't hurt him either. Even though the raven haired halfa had been holding back at that time, he still didn't know what to think of this. Which means that obviously his father would ask about it.

"What do you think, Danny-o?"

"What? Oh, umm, yeah. We, uh, you guys should be more careful." He slid off his chair and started walking towards the hidden elevator. "I'm gonna be in my room if you need me."

He went down the kitchen, then up to his bedroom, shutting the door behind him. Danny cast one glance up towards the Ops-centre before squaring his feet.

"Going Ghost!" He turned into Phantom and flew out of the house, remembering to stay invisible should his parents see him and decide he provided a much better, closer target.

 **###**

News reporters in Amity Park frequently agreed they had both the best, and the worst luck in the world. The best because they got to cover amazing stories their peers could only dream of. And the worst, because those stories often put them in mortal danger, and their peers usually laughed at them for boasting about covering ghost attacks. Lance Thunder was one reporter who had more bad luck than good.

"As you can see, the ghost known as Ice Cicle is displaying incredible skill in combat. And every hit is creating a beautiful explosion to light up the night sky. It looks as bright as my future, if I took that job in Milwaukee," Lance announced.

 **###**

The speed of Jackson's punches had increased, but the Ice Ghost was pushing himself to dodge and catch everything thrown his way. The Ice Ghost was doing well, until he fell for the same trick as before. Jackson through a distracting hit, then struck with another flip kick. This time, the Ice Ghost was thrown down to a nearby rooftop. The cement cracked beneath his body and Jackson touched down just outside their reach.

The Ice Ghost grunted and quickly got back up, returning to his default stance. Jackson's arm swung, throwing a punch to the Ice Ghost's left side. The Ice Ghost slipped outside the punch, grabbed Jackson's wrist and shoulder, and kick out Jackson's leg with his heel, forcing the darkly dressed ghost to the rooftop. Jackson was only in his grasp for a moment before turning intangible and phasing out of his grip.

They both returned to their feet, and Jackson threw a quick punch. The Ice Ghost jerked his arm up to sweep it away, then twisted and kicked Jackson in the face. They were close to the edge, and the kick sent him flying off the building. Jackson recovered and landed on the next building over. The Ice Ghost flew towards him, ready to start another round, when the pink charge faded from Jackson's fists.

"I give up," Jackson said, sounding incredibly pleased.

"What?" The Ice Ghost lowered his hands a little.

"I haven't seen four full power, but I have an idea of how strong you are," Jackson explained. "And with those skills of your, you're quite the opponent."

The Ice Ghost let his fists dropped, deactivating the charge and lowering his guard. He chuckled nervously. "Thanks."

"Well, until next time." Jackson started rise off the roof. "I hope to fight you again soon. See ya."

He turned away and flew off. The Ice Ghost watched him go, smiling a bit. He wasn't sure what he had been worried about. Jackson was actually pretty friendly. The Ice ghost shook out his arms, which were in a considerable amount of pain. If he had had to block any more attacks, he may not have been able to take it. Jackson was incredibly strong, and it was a good fight. But despite his newfound opinion of the darkly dressed ghost, there was still something he found off about him.

The Ice Ghost decided it would be best to keep his guard up whenever Jackson was around, at least until he got to know him more. Satisfied with the decision, he headed home.

Several rooftops away, Danny Phantom was hovering invisibly. He had gone out to watch the fight, for once not intending to intervene. He just wanted to see the Ice Ghost fight for himself. Not that he didn't already have personal experience, but watching was always a different experience than being in it. You weren't distracted by thinking of what's next, you could just observe.

And now that he had seen the Ice Ghost fight in person, he was more than impressed. If he hadn't faced off with ghosts such as Pariah Dark and Dark Dan, he probably would have been blown away. Danny waited until the Ice Ghost, and the news helicopter, were gone before heading home. It looked like the trio would be having another important conversation after school tomorrow—not that they made any headway with the first one.

 **###**

At school the next day, Danny was itching to talk to Sam and Tucker about the fight. Everyone else was droning on about Ice Cicle and his battle. But Danny wanted to talk from the perspective of Phantom, with the high possibility that the Ice Ghost was a student of Casper High, he didn't want to risk it. So he waited until the end of the day and ushered his friends out of the school, even bumping into someone along the way.

"Sorry!" Danny called over his shoulder. He looked back briefly to see Alan, holding his arms close to his body.

The trio didn't stop moving until they reached Fenton Works and holed themselves up in Danny's room.

"Did you guys see the fight?" Danny asked, dropping into his computer chair.

"Yeah! Did you see those moves?" Tucker exclaimed, grabbing an old beanbag chair shoved into the corner of Danny's room, while Sam claimed the bed.

"No. I was mother/daughter makeover night," she said with a shudder. "I was too busy defending myself from pink dresses and magenta bows."

"You've gotta see the footage!" Tucker pulled out his PDA and shoved it in Sam's face, a recording of last night's broadcast playing for her.

"Whoa," was all Sam could say when she finished watching it.

"Yeah. And I didn't know ectoplasm could react like that," Danny commented.

"Did your parents say anything about that?"

"I don't know. They could have, after I left." Danny kicked off the floor and spun around his chair once, briefly sinking into his thoughts. After his year of ghost fighting, he had become a lot more interested into the way ghosts work—being one probably helped that curiosity—but he hadn't actually expressed it so far. But the way the Ice Ghost and that other ghost's ectoplasm reacted was interesting. He couldn't think of a reason why that would happen, since he had never seen it before. The two ghosts had the same ectoplasm types as Danny and Vlad, and their attacks didn't do anything like that. Maybe it had to do with the Ice Ghost's elemental powers.

"Dude, where'd you go? Why would you stop watching this fight?" Tucker asked.

"I didn't, I went to the fight. I wanted to see it up close," Danny explained.

"And?" the techno-geek pressed.

"It was sort of amazing. The Ice Ghost actually knows how to fight. I mean, I can fight, but my fighting is more like…"

"A street brawl?" Sam suggested.

"Wow, thanks." Danny gave Sam a sarcastic look. "And his is like…"

"One of those martial arts competitions?" Tucker waved his arms about like he was chopping at invisible enemies.

"Thank you for that, both of you."

"You're welcome," the Goth and geek chorused.

"I think he had a teacher, a good one. If I could learn to fight like that, maybe I-"

"Could be as good as him?"

"Would you guys let me finish at least one of my sentences?" Danny shouted. His friends just laughed. "But yeah, maybe. Right now, though… that other ghost, the one in all the dark clothing, he was strong. Nothing like Pariah, and he didn't have special powers like Nocturne to give him an advantage, but he had lots of physical strength."

"Which you don't really have a lot of." Sam snickered.

"I can lift a bus full of kids, thank you very much," Danny corrected her.

"Right, as a ghost. Because of your ghost powers. How does that rank on a scale compared other ghosts with their ghost powers?" Tucker asked, eagerly holding up his PDA. "We know your strong, dude. But seriously, for the data."

"That's the thing. Even for a ghost, I can be pretty strong. I just don't have a lot of experience. But look at the Ice Ghost. He hasn't been around that long, but he was able to face that other ghost almost on even ground." Danny sighed and rested his chin on the heel of his palm.

"That much skill, huh?" Tucker asked. And it was skill. Even if the Ice Ghost was trained, he had been around for such a short amount of time that natural skill had to play a part. Before all this, Danny had zero affinity for fighting. He had to work hard to get where he was.

"Yeah." Danny nodded.

"And you seriously thought you could beat him?!"

"Tucker!" Sam scolded the technogeek.

"No, he's right Sam. As I am now, I don't think I'd actually be able to win against him. All my other enemies, they don't do the whole hand-to-hand close combat things. They fight like ghosts. But he fights like a human, something I don't have experience going up against," Danny solemnly admitted. He didn't like having to acknowledge that he could actually lose, especially since he won so often. But he had to. "We do know one thing, though. He could be a powerful ally."

 **###**

The Ice Ghost was flying around Amity Park, looking for any ghosts that needed to be taken care of. He was still a little unnerved after meeting Jackson the previous day, and a distraction would serve him well. He was turning down a new block when he heard the humming, and turned around. There was someone on a hoverboard following him, wearing a red and black suit. It was a girl, and he recognized the outfit.

"Hey, ghost!" The ghost hunter hefted her bazooka, firing an ecto-blast. The Ice Ghost stopped and thrust his palms out, blocking the blast. It exploded on impact. It wasn't as strong as any regular ghost's attack, but it could still do a little damage if it hit the right spot.

"Hey!" The Ice Ghost shouted. Valerie flew closer to him, and he could see through her tinted visor. The Ice Ghost was shocked to recognize Valerie Grey, and had to remember to play oblivious. "Oh, I've heard about you. The Red Huntress, right?"

"Huh? How did you know?" Valerie's gun lowered a bit in her surprise, a bad happen. "Well, I guess news does spread quickly around here, ghost."

"Do you need anything?" The Ice Ghost asked, keeping his guard up despite the familiar face.

"Yeah, I need you to cut the act," Valerie sassed.

The Ice Ghost blinked in surprise, his face scrunching up in confusion.

"Don't give me that look. I know what you ghosts are like, and you're not fooling me. Quite pretending to be a hero." Valerie raised her bazooka again, and there was a sharp whine as it powered up.

"But I'm not pretending," the ghost said, trying to diffuse the situation. He really didn't want to fight one of his classmates.

"That why'd you attack that little girl, huh? That's not something a hero would do," Valerie accused.

"I didn't even touch her. She was crying for her mom, she couldn't find her, and I wanted to help," he explained.

Valerie's eyes narrowed. "I don't believe you. Now what's your deal? Why are you really here?"

"I want to help people," the Ice Ghost insisted. It was all he ever wanted to do, but Valerie just wasn't buying it.

"If you don't tell me the truth, I'll destroy you!" Valerie grabbed three small cubes from her pocket, and the Ice Ghost expected them to be thrown and explode. Instead they rose from her hand and hovered over the huntress; shoulder. Each one had a glowing purple triangle on the front.

"Hey, cut it out," the Ice Ghost demanded, getting ready to fight. That was exactly what Valerie was watching for. The cubes over her shoulder fired purple beams of ectoplasmic energy, and the Ice Ghost threw up a shield to defend himself. The blasts dissipated, and when the light faded it revealed a charging Valerie. The Ice Ghost dropped his shield and flew away, intent on losing her before things got out of hand. The Red Huntress may have been eager for a fight, but he was not.

However, Valerie didn't give up, and was always right on his tail. She brought an arm up, and fired several shots from her wrist gun. The Ice Ghost swerved and barrel rolled to dodge the shots, which only made Valerie angry. She grabbed a bigger, more powerful gun and fired several rapid shots. The Ice Ghost realized his attempt at fleeing was futile and stopped, facing the Red Huntress as using his still aching arms to stop the blasts.

Valerie lowered her guns, grinning triumphantly. But the smoke around the Ice Ghost was blown away, revealing her attacks had done nothing. Valerie growled and took her biggest, best gun. The ecto-bazooka. She kneeled on her hover board, bracing the gun on her shoulder, and fired. The shot was fast, and the Ice Ghost had to dodge instead of make a shield. Not to mention the amount of damage that could be caused by the force of the blast. His eyes followed the bazooka shell as it flew past and exploded against the base of a tree. The massive oak started to tip towards a mother and child that hadn't managed to flee the scene.

Disregarding Valerie completely, the Ice Ghost flew downwards and caught the tree before the duo could be crushed. The child squealed with excitement while he was gathered in his mother's arms, and they ran away.

 **###**

The trio had abandoned their discussion of the Ice Ghost's skill, and the homepage for Doom filled Danny's computer screen. On the corner of the webpage was a digital clock, counting down the days.

"Only three more months until Doom 3 is out!" Danny proclaimed. The recent update had been a teaser to the new game, giving current players a show of fancy mods and weapons they would be able to use with the next version.

"You know you two still won't win against me," Sam gloated with a smirk.

"Don't count on it," Tucker said. "With the new Plasma Razor, I'll be back in the top ranks!"

"You were on top?" Sam asked doubtfully, and a wounded expression crossed Tucker's face.

"Yea, I was! I was the best around. And with Doom 3, I'll be even more unstoppable!"

"Which is why you could never beat me, right?" Sam asked casually.

"Hey!" Tucker protested. "I'll have you know that I-"

A loud, thunderous boom interrupted Tucker's argument, and the trio shot to their feet.

"What was that?" Sam asked. Tucker and Sam ran from Fenton Works, while Danny transformed and flew upwards. He could see smoke rising in the direction the park, and the trio headed in that direction. When they arrived, they saw the Ice Ghost standing near a fallen, smoking tree, looking up at someone. Sam and Tucker were gaping at the tree, while Danny followed the blue ghost's gaze to the Red Huntress. Through the visor, Dany could see she had a shocked expression on her face.

Her stray shot could have hurt those people, badly. In her short tenure as a ghost hunter, Valerie had yet to see a ghost move so quickly, in such a short burst of speed. If Ice Cicle hadn't moved to save them… no, if Ice Cicle hadn't moved in the first place, they wouldn't need saving. He did it on purpose! Valerie's expression quickly dissolved from shock into anger again.

"Still playing the hero, ghost?" she spat.

"Knock it off! Someone's gonna get hurt!" The Ice Ghost shouted. Valerie ignored him and aimed her bazooka once again. Before she could fire it, the Ice Ghost flew up and shot a small finger blast at the huntress' hand. She yelped and dropped her gun, immediately reaching for backup. The Ice Ghost flew at her struck her hand again with a sharp chop, and once again the weapon was dropped.

Danny started to fly forwards, but four hands grabbed his arms.

"Dude!"

"Danny!"

"I have to help Valerie," Danny insisted, spinning around to face his friends.

"We don't know who attacked who!" Sam said. Despite not liking Valerie, the Goth didn't want to see her hurt. But they knew Valerie's habits when it came to ghost fighting.

"She probably attacked the Ice Ghost first," Tucker said.

"He was probably just trying to help the city, like you," Sam added, and Danny set down on the grass.

He looked back at the ghost and hunter. "I know, but…"

"Dude, we know you don't really like the Ice Ghost much," Tucker stated. "But if he's just defending himself…"

"If he hurts Valerie, then you step in. Otherwise, it's a bad idea to rush in right now. If you join now, she'll probably attack you too," Sam reasoned.

"…Fine."

Above them, the square blasters hovering around Valerie had finally recharged and were ready to fire again, but the Ice Ghost struck first. The cubes exploded as they were struck by green ecto-beams. Valerie's scowl deepened and she reached for a set of spiked throwing discs. They glowed with anti-ecto energy as she whipped them at the ghost, but dodged smoothly. She was furious now, and fell back to her most reliable weapon. The ecto-rifle expanded in her hands, and she pulled the trigger. The Ice Ghost surged upwards, over the huntress, and struck from behind. He ripped the gun from her hands and threw it down below. As Valerie scrambled to reach for it, lurching forwards on her board and nearly losing her balance. Instead she went toppling off her board the other way as the Ice Ghost kicked her in the stomach. The fall was only a few feet, she'd had worse, but the kick had hurt.

Valerie went for her hover board, and the Ice Ghost punted it out of her reach, followed by a blast strong enough to destroy it.

It was evident to the trio that this was a very one-sided fight. All of Valerie's guns had been knocked away, and while she was strong at physical combat, from Danny saw the Ice Ghost was stronger. His hits weren't lethal, and they weren't at full power either, but they were enough to cause pain and deter Valerie from fighting back. She fell to one knee, clutching her right side, and the Ice ghost loomed before. Annoyance was written across his face, and there was a flash of anger in his eyes.

"Enough! This fight is done. You almost got those people killed back there." The Ice Ghost pointed back to the fallen tree, which was no longer smoking. "Get home before you cause more trouble. Look at you, you can barely stand up straight.

Still holding her side, Valerie tried to do just that, but couldn't hold her weight evenly on both legs. Because of that, she was favoured her left side. The look she gave the Ice Ghost was one of pure loathing, almost equal to the glares she sent Phantom's way whenever they fought. The Ice Ghost turned, only looking at her from the corner of his eye.

"Now, I'm going home. Leave me alone, and watch where you fire that damned weapon."

"You ghost!" Valerie spat, like it was the worst insult she could think of. For her, it probably was. She saw her bazooka lying on the ground and lunged for it, rolling into a crouch and firing. The Ice Ghost barely dodged the missile, and this time he shot a beam of energy to destroy it before it could land. Valerie pressed the trigger again, but all the gun did was click. She was out of ammo. Panicking, Valerie threw the gun and scrambled for any of her smaller, less effective ecto-bombs.

It happened in an instant. One moment, the Ice Ghost was ducking away from Valerie's hastily thrown weapon, the next he was right in front of her one arm bent, his fist angled towards her chest with two fingers extended. He was barely an inch away from touching the fabric of her suit. The trio and Valerie were frozen as they watched. The Ice Ghost's fingers curled back to complete the fist, then his arm shot forwards without any kind of pull back or winding up. Despite the small distance between his fist and the point of contact, Valerie was forced backwards several feet, sprawling out on the ground.

The trio gasped, and Danny would have surged forwards to confront the Ice Ghost if he didn't see Valerie struggling to stand. She didn't look to be in any pain, at least not any more, just a bit dizzy. She stumbled for a moment before collapsing. The look the Ice Ghost gave her was one of immeasurable pity before he flew away.

Danny snapped out of his shock first and floated to the unconscious huntress, Sam and Tucker close behind.

"Is she okay?" Tucker asked.

"I hope so." Danny couldn't stop a touch of resentment leaking into his voice. He didn't mean to blame Sam and Tucker for holding him back, but he much rather would have interfered with the fight and diverted Valerie's attention to him than watch the beating that ensued. Valerie's suit had receded back into its bracelets now that she was unconscious, and he could see her injuries more clearly. She was bruised, but otherwise okay. Her chest would probably be sore for a day or two, but nothing looked permanent. More like Danny's own attacks on her, taken to the extreme form of fighting-but-not-hurting.

"I'm gonna fly her home. See you guys tomorrow?" Danny said as he gathered his ex-girlfriend into his arms.

"Yeah." Sam nodded.

"You got it, dude."

"Thanks." There was no way they could miss the underlying sadness in Danny's single word. Sam and Tucker knew Danny was still struggling with the idea of another hero in Amity Park, but was starting to grudgingly accept the Ice Ghost. Even if it was self defence, his actions today had been questionable.

Danny flew straight to Valerie's apartment, phasing into her bedroom and laying her across her bed. He hovered for a moment beside it, staring at the girl he once really cared about—and at some times still did.

"You did attack first, right?" he asked the unconscious girl. Valerie was brash, stubborn, and a little trigger happy. She had to have attacked first. Danny hoped she attacked first. Seeing no point in staying any longer, he started to fly home, occasionally glancing over his shoulder until her building was out of site. "That Ice Ghost, he fought against her so easily…"

Danny didn't exactly struggle against Valerie, but he was usually intent on escaping without having to hurt her rather than retaliating. If he ever chose to fight back at his full strength, Danny knew he could do some serious damage to the human girl, which is why he never tried to. The Ice Ghost hadn't fought full strength, the raven haired halfa knew that much, but the idea of it…

Danny shook his head as he reached his home, looking once more into the sky before shutting his window and drawing the blinds. "Scary."

 **###**

Valerie's rise out of unconsciousness was a slow one. First she became aware that she was somewhere, lying on something soft. Then she noticed how sore her limbs were. At first she thought she had tired herself out while training. It was something she did often. Valerie snuggled deeper into her bed, resisting the urge to wake. Sleeping was so much nicer than dealing with her aching muscles. But then she noticed the throbbing on her chest, a kind of pain that didn't come from exercise.

And she remembered the ground… collapsing? She collapsed? There was fighting…

"Ice Cicle!" Valerie shouted as she shot up out of bed. She had been fighting, or trying to fight, that new ghost 'hero.' The last thing she remembered was struggling to stand, how had she even made it to her room? She couldn't possibly have walked or flown, she would have remembered that. She was still wearing her uniform, only her mask was gone. There were only three people in the world, that Valerie was aware of, that knew her identity. Vlad Masters knew, because he was her benefactor. Her father knew because Danny Phantom had ripped off her mask back when all those ghosts invaded. And Phantom himself knew for the same reason.

Vlad didn't seem like the type of person to deliver Valerie safely home after she passed out from a battle. Plus, how would he even know where she was? If Valerie's father had found her, he would be in her room at that moment, reaming her over reckless ghost hunting and threatening to take away her gear. That only left Phantom, which didn't really make sense either. Probably just another step to reinforce that fake hero façade. But something still didn't sit right, and Valerie spent a good ten minutes checking over her suit and equipment for any tampering. It was fine.

Reluctantly, Valerie admitted to herself that she couldn't do anything about it until the next time she faced Phantom and could try to beat an answer out of him—not that she was really successful on that front in the past. For now, there was something else to dwell on.

Ice Cicle (curse the media and their ridiculous names, Valerie didn't even like thinking) was new, he was another false hero, and he was strong. She didn't even know how strong he was. Technically the same could be said for Phantom, but Valerie had seen him in countless battle against powerful ghosts that, she loathed to admit, were much stronger than herself. She knew what he could, she had seen it.

She had not seen Ice Cicle fighting at his best. Throughout their fight, Valerie could tell that wasn't even half of what he could do. Ice Cicle hadn't even used energy attacks on her. He shot away and destroyed her weapons, but he didn't attack her in that way. He had been pulling his punches too. That last one at the end had been a lot stronger than the others.

Ice Cicle had been holding back, and still Valerie hadn't even managed to land a hit on him. She shouted in frustration and punched her pillow. Ice Cicle treated her like a joke, not like the powerful ghost hunter she was. Glaring at her damaged weapons, which would need to be replaced by Masters now thanks to that blue ghost, Valerie came to a decision. She would prove to Ice Cicle just how dangerous she could be.

 _ **Please review! Hope you liked this episode! Next episode release date: Pushed back to February 18th**_


	5. Girls's Night Out

**Okay! This was was delayed an extra week but here it is! Now there isn't too much different with this one besides that the Ice ghost is in this.**

 **Enjoy and please review! :)**

Danny Phantom had a lot of enemies. Some he hated, some he disliked, and others were just plain annoying. After their most recent encounter, the last person Danny wanted to deal with was Johnny 13. But that's exactly who he found himself flying away from. Danny zoomed along the streets, gritting his teeth as he glanced back at the grey-skinned ghost. He swerved up, flying parallel to an apartment building, and jerked left and right as he avoided Johnny's blue ecto-blasts. He spun around so he was flying backwards and aimed both his palms down, sending several ecto-beams at his pursuer. Johnny jerked the handles of his bike, dodging smoothly.

Still flying backwards, Danny grinned. "So, Johnny, you work alone now? Finally ditched that stupid-"

As Danny cleared the top of the building, a dark mass tackled him. "Shadow?!"

Shadow's body stretched, wrapping around Danny, and he grabbed onto a pipe and antenna the next rooftop over. Danny grimaced as his trajectory abruptly changed and he was flung forwards, bouncing from rooftop to rooftop until he collided face first with a billboard.

Two strong hands grabbed onto the back of Danny's jumpsuit and pulled him out of the Danny-sized dent in the ad. Johnny held tightly to the collar of Danny's suit and dragged the halfa over to him and Johnny.

"What do you want, Johnny?" Danny asked. "Oh, no. Please tell me this isn't another bet!"

"Relax, kid. Relax. I'm just blowing off some steam." Johnny leaned on the handles of his bike and shrugged off Danny's concern. "Me and Kitty had a spat. What do you do when you and the gloomy chick have a lovers quarrel?"

"What? We- we never, I mean, we aren't," Danny spluttered defensively. "Look, Johnny. You can either go back to the Ghost Zone willingly, or I can make you go."

Johnny chuckled and leaned back, hands curling around his handlebars. "Digging that tough guy act, little man. But don't worry, I'm gone."

"And take the dork of darkness with you." Danny jerked his thumb at Shadow, who growled threateningly. Danny gave him a very unimpressed look as he was released.

"See ya on the flip side, kid. And thanks for the game," Johnny said as he drove away. Shadow hesitated a moment before following, and Danny pointed at the dark mass. He fired a small finger blast that hit Shadow's back, making the unlucky ghost grumble in pain as he continued to fly away. Danny frowned, watching them leave, before jumping into the air and taking off.

He didn't notice the Ghost Zone's self-proclaimed greatest hunter emerging from behind a water tower. Skulker growled, watching the Ghost Boy leave. "My turn."

He glanced at a picture of Ember in his hand and crushed it.

 **###**

Not so deep in the Ghost Zone, two angry girlfriends and one annoyed former therapist were staring down at a very short ghost. Bertrand blinked innocently at the girls.

"Let me get this straight," Kitty said, cocking her hip and frowning. "Johnny and Skulker just took off for Amity Park to blow steam because Ember and I had a fight with them?"

"What did you expect?" Bertrand asked, resisting the urge to roll his eyes. This should have obvious to them. "You told Johnny his bike wasn't as important as you were, and you told Skulker he was a lousy hunter."

Ember scoffed and threw her arms up. "He is, he can't even find the TV remote."

Spectra sighed. "Why didn't you go with them?"

"They didn't invite me. Why else would I tell you where they went?" Bertrand crossed his arms, feeling a little more than insulted at Spectra's question.

"Oh! This makes me so mad!" Kitty shouted. She brought a hand to her lips and blew a kiss at Bertrand. A pair of blue lips, followed by a spiraling trail, flew towards the shorter ghost and left an imprint of a kiss on his cheek. Bertrand's eyes turned red and he gasped in surprise before glowing and disappearing in a puff.

"What was that?" Ember asked, staring at the pile of dust where Bertrand had been standing a second before.

"What? You think you're the only one who can drive men away?" Kitty asked, smirking at the rockstar.

"Funny," Ember drawled. "So where'd he go?"

"I don't exactly know." Kitty shrugged and eyed the pile of dust.

"And I don't exactly care," Spectra added lightly.

"All I know is that if he's gone for twelve hours, he's gone for good. Unless I do this." Kitty blew another kiss and a dazed Bertrand popped back into existence.

"Drat. We still had eleven hours and fifty-nine minutes," Spectra sulked.

"Ugh." Bertrand moaned. "Is there a twelve hour sale somewhere?"

The girls ignored him, and Ember walked to the end of the small slab of rock they were standing on. "Ladies, nobody walks out on us. Pucker up, Kitty. We're going to Amity Park."

The girls' shoulders shook as they laughed.

 **###**

"Danny!" Jack Fenton called from the street in front of their house. "Chop, chop boy! We've got a busy day."

He grinned and pointed at the Fenton RV behind him. Rather than his usual jumpsuit, Jack was wearing a plaid shirt and overalls.

"Fishing is a busy day?" Jazz asked doubtfully from his side.

"Oh, you betcha baby. Floating, napping, and eating snacks out of a cooler?" Jack chuckled. "It's not for the weak."

Danny stepped through the front door of Fenton Works, carrying cooler and two fishing rods. He wore a similar pair of green overalls over his usual red and white shirt. "It's a guy thing, Jazz, you wouldn't understand."

"Thank goodness," Jazz commented, taking in her brother's relaxed smile as he walked up to the RV. She personally wasn't a fan of fishing, but it was nice to see Danny could get away from his ghost hunting duties sometimes. He needed it.

"I think I'll bring the last of my famous Flap-Jack Fentons," Jack said. He lifted a fork and stabbed into the front pocket of his overalls, pulling out a stack of sticky, syrupy pancakes with a few strings of thread attached. "Anybody want some more?"

Before him, Jazz cringed, Maddie started whistling and looking innocently away, and Tucker grabbed Sam to use as a human shield.

"No thanks," Jazz said quickly.

"Already ate." Sam raised her hands, ready to defend herself.

"Allergies," Tucker said shortly.

Jack shrugged and took a big bite, smiling in satisfaction as he chewed. Jazz, Sam, and Tucker walked around Jack at a generous distance and approached Danny as he took a seat in the RV. Jazz had a Fenton Thermos in her hands.

"I told Danny not to worry. If anything ghostly happens today, we three will handle it!" Jazz threw her arms out and wrapped them around the Goth and techno geek. Sam was quick to shove the peppy girl away, and Tucker rubbed his shoulder. Jazz was surprisingly strong.

"We two will handle it, like we always do," Sam reassured Jazz. It was the only reason Danny's two friends had gone to Fenton Works that morning, so the halfa knew the town would be well taken care of while he was gone.

"You just can't accept that I'm a part of your ghost fighting team, can you?" Jazz asked pitifully, shaking her head.

"Who said you're a part of our team?" Sam shot back.

"I rest my case." Jazz nodded, then turned to Danny and handed him the thermos. She gave him what was supposed to be a reassuring wink.. "Here you go, Danny. Just in case."

"Jazz, come on. I need to know that you can get along while I'm gone," Danny said, holding the thermos tightly.

"Me?!" Jazz asked incredulously. "How is this my problem?"

"Don't look at me, I'm already on the team," Sam said.

Jazz frowned and gave the Goth a very droll look

By the driver side front door, Maddie was standing beside her husband and patting his shoulder. "Have fun catching the disgusting fish with Danny, sweetie."

"I'm just glad Danny and I finally get some… uhh…" Jack pulled a book from his overalls, titled Father/Son Relationships For Stupids! "Quality time with his old man!"

"Me too, but hurry back," Maddie said. Jack grabbed his wife, pulling her close and giving her a passionate kiss before releasing her. Maddie stood in a daze, smiling.

"We'll see you tonight," Jack reassured her. "If you miss me, just look at this!"

Maddie took the photo Jack passed her. It was of him, in his usual jumpsuit, posing with his arms behind his head. "Gee, thanks hun."

Jack burped in response as he climbed into the RV, closing the door. "Oh, boy. Those Flap-Jack Fentonsare yummy. Even later. Bye!"

Jack waved and the RV peeled away from the curb. Everyone watching immediately felt sorry for Danny for having to deal with Jack's reckless driving. Hopefully it wouldn't be too long of a drive to the lake. Maddie waited until the RV turned down another street and was well out of sight before throwing her arms up and cheering.

"Finally!" She ran into the house, oblivious to the three surprised teens still standing on the sidewalk. Across the street, Skulker was watching the RV as it drove away.

"Hm, a road trip. I love moving targets." Skulker looked at the photo in his hand. It was identical to the one he had crushed earlier. He had several backups, ripe for destruction, and eagerly lit this one on fire as he flew away. "We'll see who's a lousy hunter."

On the street, Jazz ran up the Fenton Works steps. "I'll be right back, Ghost Getters!"

"Ghost Getters?" Sam and Tucker asked, sharing a look.

"Yeah. I thought we needed a cool name since we're kind of Danny's sidekicks," Jazz said. She really liked the idea of having a team name.

"We're not really sidekicks," Tucker said, not liking the implication. They were his friends.

"And that's not a cool name," Sam added.

"Just wait for me. I made a Kino-chart of ghost hunting duties for each of us while Danny's away!" Jazz squealed in excitement and ran inside. As soon as the door was closed, Sam and Tucker booked it, their only intention to get as far away from Jazz as possible. They knew she meant well, but so far things tended to go wrong when she was involved.

Back at Fenton Works, Jazz was walking down into the lab. "Mom? I was going to go with Sam and Tucker is that's okay."

"Oh, sure honey," Maddie said. She pressed a button on the wall, opening a hidden compartment filled with her work in progress inventions. If she left them lying about, there was a chance Jack could break them. Maddie reached in and pulled out one that looked like a backpack with two small sonar dishes on top. "I'll be testing this baby all day."

"I'm glad you have a chance to work on your inventions instead of always having to fix Dad's. What does that do?"

"If I'm right, it will be able to completely alter spectral frequencies to reverse their effects." Maddie activated the device and the circles of green energy started pulsing from the dishes, growing wider as they moved farther away before dispersing as they hit something solid.

"And if you're wrong?" Jazz asked. So few of her parent's inventions actually got properly tested, besides the weapons. It was hard to say whether this one would work like it's supposed to.

"It'll make a nice bowl for popcorn," Maddie answered without skipping a beat. Jazz smiled, happy her mother was still positive despite the chance of failure, and they both walked out of the lab.

 **###**

Despite his promise to Danny, Johnny didn't return to the Ghost Zone like he was supposed to. Instead he decided to hang around, visit the park, and flirt with a few good looking girls. He was smiling at a pretty little thing with tanned skin, dark brown hair, and fairly revealing clothes when he felt a hot pain in his back and was blasted off his motorcycle.

"Johnny!"

"Oh, boy," Johnny said, looking back and seeing his girlfriend and her friends glaring at him. Without wasting a moment, he jumped up and climbing onto his bike, revving the engine and zooming away through the park. Kitty gave chase immediately, keeping up a constant barrage of ecto-blasts.

"I'm liking her more and more," Spectra commented, to which Ember nodded and grinned.

Not so far away, Sam and Tucker were walking through the park, content to have lost Jazz back at Fenton Works. Their relief was short lived, however, as Jazz ran up from behind and put her hands on their shoulders.

"There you are. Any signs of ecto-activity, Ghost Getters?" Danny's friends frowned.

"Okay, that's gotta stop," Tucker declared.

"Jazz. I know you dream of being one of Dany's 'sidekicks'," Sam said.

"Ghost Getters!" Jazz interrupted.

"Whatever. But Tucker and I have been doing this for a while, so we have it under control. You don't even have the proper equipment." Sam pointed to Jazz's vest, which didn't look like anything special. The only ghost hunting gear the Goth could see was a Fenton Thermos, which only helped when the ghost was already downed. "You at least need a Specter Deflector, like this."

"She can have mine, it makes my shorts ride up," Tucker said. He unclipped his belt and passed it to Jazz. She snapped it around her waist and smirked victoriously at the Goth, who looked away.

"Face it, Sam. I'm as big a part of this as you are."

"As big a part of what? Nothing's happening!" Sam had barely finished speaking before there was a loud crash and a wave of dust flew up.

"Wrong!" Jazz shouted, and they turned to see Johnny's motorcycle, trashed and alight with green flames, lying on the ground. Spectra hovered and Ember hovered above it, while Kitty stood over Johnny, who had been tossed off his bike when attacked.

"So the minute we have a fight you go here to flirt with some meaningless human girls?" Kitty shouted.

"Oh, babe, come on. You know you're the only meaningless girl for me." Kitty's eyes hardened and she growled, and Johnny realized what he said. "Wait, that didn't come out right."

Nearby, Dash and Kwan made themselves known as they recognized the blue haired ghost.

"Woah! Ember Mclain, sweet! I'm your biggest fan!" Kwan gushed.

Dash shoved Kwan away. "No, I'm your biggest fan! That one song, ya know. When you sing and the guitar is really loud, I love that song!"

"I love it more!" Kwan jumped back up and pushed Dash. "Go back to listening to boy bands!"

"You promised never to tell anyone that!" Dash shouted, shoving Kwan back. Soon the two boys were brawling on the grass.

"It's unanimous, men are useless in this world too," Spectra announced. Ember's replied was drowned out by the sound of chattering boys, as more of them noticed who she was. The chatter grew into several scattered shouting matches until they were all fighting, and Spectra slapped a hand against her face while Ember rolled her eyes.

"Kitten, wait! I can explain!" Johnny protested, looking for a way out of the situation.

"Explain this you- you… you man!" Kitty pressed a hand against her lips.

"Someone please make them all stop!" Spectra groaned.

"Let's just turn up the volume." Ember raised her hand to strike a power chord. Kitty blew a kiss the same moment Ember played a note. As the blue lips soared through the air, leaving a trail of energy, the red ectoplasm from Ember's own attacked quickly caught up and the two combined. The attacks burst, and wave after wave of teal energy ripped through the park.

As the first wave passed over Sam, Jazz, and Tucker, the techno geek disappeared in a pop.

"Does he do that often?" Jazz asked.

"I wish." Sam looked around, sounding worried. "Tucker?"

The sound waves continued to spread, washing over the entire city, and the men of Amity Park started to disappear. On a rooftop near the other side of the city, the Ice Ghost was training, going through a series of kata slowly. He turned fluidly and opened his eyes, seeing the teal energy approached. The Ice Ghost dropped out of his stance and threw up his arm, creating a dome of ectoplasm to protect him. The waves crashed against the wall, molding around it. The Ice Ghost waited a minute until after the attack stopped before dropping his shield. He drifted to the edge of the roof and looked down on the street below, immediately noticing that something is off.

"Wow." At the park, Kitty was eagerly looking around at the man free zone and turned to Ember. "Wh-What did you do?"

"Made some improvements. Music really adds a whole new dimension," Ember said as she riffed harmlessly on her guitar.

"Well I love what you've done with the neighbourhood," Spectra said.

"Let's just turn up the volume." Ember grinned and twisted a knob on her guitar, changing the setting from amplifying to mind controlling. She struck another chord and red energy washed over the city this time. As the eyes of everyone around them turned red, Sam and Jazz's Spector Deflectors started blinking and beeping, signalling they were fending off an attack.

"I'm not getting any readings on Ghost Getter number two!" Jazz started, focusing on a tracker in her hand.

"You mean Tucker." The women left behind started to walk past them, all headed straight for the three female ghosts. "I don't think this is just about him, Jazz."

The three ghosts floated high above the throng of spectators, Ember at the front.

"Women of Amity Park," the rock star announced, "we have a proposition for you!"

"Oh, wow. So not good," Sam groaned.

 **###**

Lake Eerie never failed to live up to its name, which was something coming from a kid who fought ghosts on a daily basis. Through the heavy layer of fog and clouds it may as well have been night time. If it weren't for the dull orb of light trying to make itself known in the distance, it certainly would have felt like it.

Jack and Danny were in a rowboat in the middle of the lake, fishing rods in hand.

"Ah, good ol' Lake Eerie. With two E's. So what do you think, Danny?" Jack asked.

"Uh, creepy, also with two E's," Danny answered.

"Which means we'll have it all to ourselves. So while we wait for the fish to bite, what do you saw we," Jack pulled his Father/Son book out of his overalls and flipped through the pages, "do a little father/son bonding? Spend some quality time, getting to know each other better."

"Are you reading that out of a book?"

There was a soft thud as Jack dropped his book. "Heck no. Now, tell me what's new with you? How's that you and… monkey! Remember that time with the, and you- all you can eat platter thing. Hey, how are you and that Sam person doing?"

Danny jumped in surprised. "What?"

"You know, the gloomy girl like, uhh, like."

"She, uh, I don't if I exactly like, uh- well, maybe I-" Danny's sputtering was interrupted by his ghost sense. "Woah. Never thought I'd be so happy to see a-"

Skulker was floating in the air above him.

"Scratch that. Okay, I'm going-" Danny's shout faltered as he remembered who was being him, and saw Jack turning to give him a curious look. "Uh, going… to need better bait."

"I hear that. Where are all the fish anyway? I mean, this lake is like a ghost town."

Danny glanced up at the ghost that was now flying towards them, a rocket on his arm aimed towards the boat.

"Oh, well." Jack shrugged, spraying some cheese in his mouth, and leaned back against the boat. He was asleep almost immediately, and not a moment too soon. Skulker fired several rockets on the boat and Danny reached for the closest thing to him. He grabbed the tackle box, opening it wide, and tossing all the hooks and gear inside out towards the missiles. His plan worked, and the missiles activated as soon as they touched one of the solid object, exploding before they could reach the boat. The force of the explosion sent a wave of water crashing over the boat, and Jack was quickly awaked.

"Rain? Better cover the nachos." Jack leaned down to do just that, missing the sight of Skulker looping around and flying towards them once more, firing twin lines of bullets into the water.

"Sorry about this, Dad," Danny muttered. He grabbed the edges of the boat and started rocking the boat until it tipped over. Skulker's bullets hit the water, zipping harmlessly past both Fentons. Danny transformed and burst through the water and zoomed after Skulker.

"Hey, ugly! You're scaring the fish!" Danny fired an ecto-ray at Skulker. The hunter gasped and jerked upwards, just barely avoiding the attack.

"I don't fish, I hunt," Skulker said. His left hand suddenly disappeared into his wrist, replaced with a claw-like appendage, and pale blue energy gathered there. The hunter threw it towards the ghost boy. Danny reeled back, but couldn't stop or get out of the way in time. The energy hit him straight on, exploding and sending him flying backwards. He skidded along the beach, stopping only when a large rock blocked his path. Skulker flew over and landed on the sand in front of the halfa.

"What do you want, Skulker?" Danny asked.

"My girlfriend says I'm a lousy hunter. Hanging your pelt on my wall will change her mind." Skulker thrust his hand forwards, and the ectoplasmic energy gathered again.

"Wow," was all Danny could say.

"Frightened now?" Skulker chuckled.

"No, I can't believe you have a girlfriend."

Skulker frowned. "No that just plain hurts."

"Not as much as this." Danny twisted, swinging his leg out, and kicked Skulker's clawed hand clean off. Following through, Danny continued turning and kicked Skulker's head with his other foot, making the suited ghost stumbled and crash into a nearby tree. A nest full of eggs dropped onto the hunter's head, and an eagle soared down, screeching and flapping angrily at him. Skulker took off running down the beach as the bird gave chase. With Skulker distracted, Danny flew back over the lake.

Jack had just managed to flip the boat upright and scrambled inside. He looked over the surface of the water.

"Danny?" Jack shouted. Behind him, Danny dove into the water, transformed again, and popped back up.

"It's cool, dad. I'm alright," Danny called back.

"Danny!" Jack said happily. The front of his shirt started wriggling and a fish tail popped up, smacking Jack in the chin. The elder Fenton tried to catch it, but the fish flopped and wriggled, slipping out of his grip. Jack looked at his son, and held his hands apart at least three feet. "Repeat after me. 'It was this big.'"

 **###**

"I bet every other women in town is under Ember's musical mind control," Sam said. Everywhere she looked were red eyed women, slowly making their way to Ember's concert in the middle of the park.

"Those ghosts are up to something," Jazz stated obviously.

"No kidding. What was your first clue? When all the men vanished?" Sam asked.

"Go ahead and hide behind that layer of unappealing sarcasm. This Ghost Getter's taking action," Jazz declared.

"What are you going to do? Make a really lame name for the ghosts too?"

As it turned out, that was not Jazz's plan. Sam followed the redhead back to Fenton Works where they headed down to the lab, the greatest source for ghost hunting in all of Amity Park. They found Maddie still standing at her workbench, touching up a few of her weapons, and out of Ember's control.

"Mom? Have you been down here the whole day?" Jazz asked.

"Uh-huh. I'm making real progress with this ecto-wave… thingy." Maddie motioned to the backpack-looking invention. "Well, except for the name."

"The anti-ecto walls of the lab must have protected you from the ghost spell," Sam said.

"Ghosts?!" Maddie gasped.

"A ghost kiss has made all of them men disappear. We've got to figure out how to get them back before they're gone forever," Sam explained.

Maddie reached for her collection of ecto-weapons pulling down a stocky and dangerous looking gun. It whined as it powered up. "No thinking, Sam. Action. Lots of ghosts splattered everywhere!"

"Mom, no," Jazz said as Maddie marched past. "Sam's right."

"I'm sorry, could you say that again?" Sam asked in disbelief.

"I mean we need to approach this logically," Jazz elaborated.

"Exactly, and I have a plan."

"So do I," Jazz stated firmly.

"Jazz, trust me. Mine will actually work. Now, if we split up, we can each take a ghost." The three women leaned in close, readying themselves for their attack.

 **###**

Danny would never cease to be amazed by his father's ability to fall asleep within seconds. At that very moment, he was also thankful for it. When Skulker returned, it would be easier to fight without having to worry about his dad seeing.

"I know you're up there somewhere," Danny said, scanning the sky. There was a loud noise behind him, and Danny whipped around to see a cyclone rising out of the water. It made its way towards them and easily picked up the boat. The force of the wind kept it tight against the cyclone's surface as they were carried higher and higher into the sky. Danny peered over the edge of the boat at the lake far below, then glanced at his father, who somehow was still asleep, and able to sit perfectly straight in these conditions.

Danny jumped out of the boat and transformed mid fall, diving straight into the water to find the source of the cyclone. He followed the swirling water to Skulker, who had a large barrel-like device on his back. The torrent spewing out of it was surrounded by ghostly energy.

"Whoa. This girlfriend I can't imagine really got you angry," Danny commented. Have you thought about just getting a lonely guy cat?"

"Already have one, on my wall." Skulker grinned, thrusting his arm out and charging up one of his rockets. Danny blasted it to pieces before it could be fired.

"Sounds like you just need to cool off, lover boy." Danny flew through the water, his fists in front of him, and crashed into Skulker. The hunter was sent soaring away, the cyclone generator on his back separating from his person. On the surface the cyclone vanished and the rowboat was sent crashing back down. Miraculously, it remained intact, and Jack managed to stay inside. The large splash caused by the landing soaked the Fenton patriarch once again. Jack coughed, ripping off his hat.

"What the?" he asked, looking around. Danny was sitting on the other side of the boat, whistling and reeling in his line while water dripped from his hair.

"Rainstorm," Danny said, pointing upwards, when he noticed his father watching. Jack looked up at the sky, which had actually managed to clear some since they first arrive. The fog was still fairly thick, but there weren't any large clouds above them.

"Man. Nothing knocks me out faster than processed cheese spread." Jack sprayed some more cheese into his mouth and slumped forwards as he fell asleep once again. Danny wiped the water from his hair and sighed with relief.

 **###**

In Amity Park, Spectra had taken over the local TV station. The set had been replaced with the equipment for a kitchen, and a sign above said The Spectra Show. A similar label was on all the cameras.

"Welcome back," Spectra greeted. She was standing behind a counter in the middle of the set, a series of ingredients and cooked dishes laid out before her. "It's time to mix up with another anti-man delicacy."

As the humanoid ghost continued speaking, Maddie snuck in through one of the studio doors from backstage and pressed her back against the stands for the live audience. She pulled up the collar of her trench coat, and spoke into a watch on her wrist.

"I'm in position."

"Me, too," Sam said through the device.

"Me, too. I mean, roger," Jazz added.

"Roger?" Maddie looked to the side to see a member of the filming crew, wearing a Spectra t-shirt. "But that's a man's name!"

"Uh, look, a shoe sale!" Maddie pointed.

"Where?" The woman eagerly looked away, and was quickly knocked out as Maddie pinched a pressure point on her shoulder.

"Sorry. I can't have you blowing my cover," she told the unconscious woman. "Now, to take out that ghost."

Maddie stalked towards the stage, reaching for her Fenton Thermos.

"I'm going to need a volunteer," Spectra said, and she noticed Maddie approaching. "Oh, wonderful. You."

Two security women approached Maddie, quickly removing her disguising and pulling an apron over her head before shoving her on stage.

"Oh, but I- I really don't," Maddie protested.

"Not to worry," Spectra said, throwing a reassuring arm around the ghost hunter's shoulder. "You'll have the help of our in house homemaker."

"Oh no. Only one thing could make this worse," Maddie grumbled. Much to her chagrin, it was Pamela Manson who appeared on stage at Spectra's announcement, waving happily to the crowd. "Hi, Maddie!"

"And that would be it," Maddie groaned.

 **###**

In the park Sam was running through an obstacle course set up by Kitty. Why Johnny's girlfriend had decided to do such a thing was beyond her, but it was perfect for skillset. She swung across the monkey bars and dropped to the ground, skidding across the finish line.

Kitty pressed a button on her stopwatch and glanced at Sam's time. "Not bad. I've been looking for someone who can go a few rounds with Helga."

Sam, who had been powering up her Fenton Thermos to take Kitty out, faltered. "Helga?"

There was a heavy thud as a punching back broke off its chain, and Sam looked at the large, muscled woman that had done it.

"She's run out of sparring partners." Kitty smiled. Sam gasped as Helga grabbed the front of her shirt, yanking her forwards. The woman was so tall that Sam's feet completely left the ground. She shoved the Fenton Thermos forwards as some way of defence, but it did nothing. Instead, Helga opened her mouth a bit off almost a full half of the thermos, chewing and swallowing.

"I guess it's good to get some iron in your diet once in awhile," Sam said, staring dismally at the broken thermos, and a little horrified at what Ember's control over the woman allowed her to do.

Across the clearing, Ember had a stage set up and was rocking out.

"Hey girls!" she sang, her voice echoing through the speakers. "It's girls' night out!"

The women in the crowd cheered. Behind Ember, the band began to play, and the backup singers began to harmonize with Ember's singing. Among them was Jazz, who was watching everyone doubtfully. Once Ember, and everyone else, was absorbed in the song Jazz whipped out her Fenton Thermos, aiming it at the rock star. She was about to fire when Ember suddenly turned, swinging her arm and motioning to the back singers. The two before Jazz let out long, harmonizing notes one after the other as Ember pointed to them. The singer motioned to Jazz last. Not wanting to stand out, Jazz grabbed her microphone and let out a long, shrill note that was off key. The music and cheering stopped, and Jazz opened her eyes to see everyone glaring at her. The crowd started booing and throwing garbage on stage.

"You're all just jealous!" Jazz shouted from under a pile of garbage.

 **###**

"So are we going to bring them back before the twelve hours are up?" Spectra asked. The three ghosts were gathered just outside the park, having finished with their first round of fun. They all had so much more planned for the women of Amity Park, and none of them wanted it to end.

"Not a chance," Ember deadpanned.

"Yeah, we all like it better this way. I say we have a huge celebration after the twelve hours," Kitty suggested.

"I like the sound of that." Spectra grinned. "So how much longer?"

"Hmm, around two hours," Kitty said.

Above them, invisible, was Ice Ghost. He had spent the first ten hours trying to figure out what happened to all the men, even going so far as flying to the next town to see if they were having the same problem. They weren't. The event was isolated to Amity Park, thankfully. He knew the three female ghosts were responsible for what happened, but with such little knowledge of the events, the Ice Ghost stuck with observing and gathering information. Although this was the first useful thing he had heard so far, and it definitely wasn't good.

With only two hours to go, he could longer waste time waiting around for some helpful revelation. Action had to be taken. With his new knowledge, the Ice Ghost did the first helpful thing he could think of. He flew to Fenton Works.

 **###**

Sam, Jazz, and Maddie were sitting at the kitchen table, lamenting over their epic failure.

"I smell like I slept in a garbage truck," Jazz complained, picking bits of banana peel out of her hair.

"You?" Sam asked, then winced. "Ow, I think my organs are loose."

"I can't believe your mother said I had poor meal presentation. So I didn't use a parsley sprig, is that a crime?!" Maddie ranted.

"Women of Amity Park!" Ember's voice echoed throughout the city, assisted by her musical powers. Maddie stood and ran over to the fridge, pressing a button on a wall panel.

Three to the Ops Center," she said, then sniffed and glanced at Jazz. "And one to a shower.

"Thanks, mom." Jazz frowned. A glass tube lowered from the ceiling, and the three women were transported upwards. Once in the Ops Center, they ran to the window to see what was happening. A bus was slowly driving down the street, surrounded by mind controlled women, with Kitty, Spectra, and Ember standing on top. There were two large speakers by Ember's side. The women following the bus were carrying anything that could be used as a weapon. Pitchforks, paddles, shovels, rolling pins. One lady even had an egg beater in her hands.

The three ghost hunters turned away from the window.

"I've got a plan that could work," Jazz announced.

"Ah, Jazz? Why don't you let your mom and me handle this?" Sam suggested.

"Right, because your first plan worked so great," Jazz shot back.

"At least I didn't come up with the name Ghost Getters!" Sam retorted.

"Girls!" Maddie interrupted, stepping between her daughter and her son's friend. "Sam, let's hear what Jazz has to say."

"It was Kitty's kiss that made the men disappear right? So if we get her to blow another and Ember hits that same note on her guitar, we can reverse the curse and break the spell," Jazz explained.

"Yeah but the spell makes men disappear," Sam reminded her. "How do we get them back?

Jazz walked over to the other side of the Ops Center, pressing a button for another transport tube. The invention Maddie had been working on earlier today appeared. "With the Maddie Modulator!"

"Ooh! Great name, honey!" Maddie said happily.

Jazz grabbed the Modulator as the tube disappeared back into the ceiling and put it on, tightening the straps around her shoulders. "If this can reverse spectral frequencies like you said, all we have to do his aim it at Ember's guitar and reverse this kiss as it travels across town."

"Okay," Sam relented. "But how are we going to get Kitty to blow another kiss?"

"She'll need to think they're still some males left it town," Maddie said. Earlier that day, Sam had explained to her the purpose of the kiss.

"Exactly." Jazz nodded. "One of us is going to have to dress like a boy."

Maddie and Jazz turned in unison and looked at Sam.

"Oh, come one! This is because I wear boots right?" Sam said as she glared at the two female Fentons. Before either of them could defend themselves, there was a soft knock on the window. They looked to see the Ice Ghost hovering there, smiling and waving at them. Maddie immediately reached for the closest gun, and the Ice Ghost backed off, holding up his hands as a show of peace.

"Mom, wait. Ice Cicle is a good ghost, he could help us," Jazz said, grabbing the gun Maddie had been reaching for.

"Yeah. And, he's a boy, so I won't have to dress up like one!" Sam grinned and sighed with relief, watching the Ice Ghost closely. If he were anyone else, she would have doubts, but Sam knew he was a halfa, which meant he could be trusted. For now. There were still some misgivings after what he did to Valerie.

Maddie hesitated, then motioned for the ghost to come in. He phased through the window and hovered before them.

"How long have you been listening?" Maddie demanded.

"I heard the whole conversation. Look, that kiss has a twelve hour limit. After that, the men are gone for good," the Ice Ghost explained.

"Do you know how much time we have?" Sam asked.

The Ice Ghost nodded. "Around two hours."

That wasn't a lot of time. The women shared a look, then shivered as the temperature in the room suddenly dropped.

"Does it always have to be this cold when you're around?" Sam complained, very aware of how little warmth her crop top and skirt provided.

"Sorry." The Ice ghost chuckled, a little embarrassed, before shrugging. "I can make Kitty blow the kiss while Maddie reverses it with her machine.

"That Maddie Modulator," Jazz said, more than proud of the name she had come up with. "Wait, how come the kiss didn't affect you? Is it a ghost thing?"

"Sort of, I guess. I shielded myself when I saw the energy."

Maddie's eyes narrowed in suspicion. "How do you know my name is Maddie?"

"I'm a ghost, you're a ghost hunter. I kind of need to know the names of you people," the Ice Ghost explained, pointing between them.

Maddie scrutinized a few moments longer before sighing. "If you're willing to help, then we'd appreciate it. But I still don't trust you, ghost."

"Alright." The Ice Ghost nodded. "I'll head out when you three are ready."

 **###**

"Hmm, don't think they're biting anymore," Jack lamented. They had been sitting for hours, and not one single fish had come to nibble on their bait.

"Anymore?" Danny asked. As far as he could remember, they hadn't been biting in the first place. The end of his question was punctuated by a bust of blue breath. Danny immediately looked up, expecting to see Skulker diving at them. Instead he heard a bubbling sound and glanced at the surface of the water. A huge red sea monster burst through the lake, knocking the boat away. Jack and Danny went flying while the monster snapped its jaws and crushed the boat. It looked down, roaring, and Skulker made his appearance riding on the monster's head.

"New pet? Or is this the girlfriend I've been hearing so much about?" Danny asked.

"You'd be surprised the creatures I find when I'm hunting," Skulker gloated, then stomped on the monster's head. It dove off the rock it had been perched on, opening its jaws wide. Danny shielded his head as the wide maw approached, knowing there was no way he would be able to get out of the way in time. The monster's jaws snapped shut as it hit the water, swallowing Danny whole.

Jack, who had been floated a little ways away, gasped and swam forwards to where his son had been moments ago. "Danny?!"

The sea monster broke through the water again and started swimming away, snaking through the waves. Jack snatched up a fishing rod that was floating nearby.

"Drop my kid, you Jurassic jerk!" Jack shouted. He reeled back then threw the line forwards. The hook caught on of the monster's scales, and Jack was quickly dragged after it. He rolled around in the water as he was pulled, putting his feet first and briefly rising up. The monster turned and Jack swung outwards. He bent his knees and leapt when he hit a wave. The fishing line remained taught as he swung around, letting go at just the right moment so he was headed straight for the monster's head. Jack kicked and knocked Skulker clean off, taking the ghost's place between the monster's horns.

"You call this rough? I'm the champion of the Fudge Festival Rodeo! Eat hot cheese, Barney!" Jack leaned forwards, wielding his spray cheese like a sword, and squirted the monster's eye. It shrieked in pain, thrashing around in the water. Unable to see, the monster headed straight for land, crashing into a large cliff. Its jaw fell open as it passed out and Danny tumbled out.

Jack jumped down from the monster's head and knelt beside his son. "Danny?"

"Dad?" Danny asked, feeling more than a little dazed. By then Skulker had recovered from Jack's kick and was soaring towards them. He fired several missiles, and Jack quickly grabbed and shielded his son as they exploded against the sand. Once everything had settled again, Jack took up his fishing rod once more and chased after the suited ghost. He cast his line and pulled when he felt it go taught. The hook had managed to catch under SKulker's chin, ripping it clean off. The face fell open, revealing Skulker's true, miniature form inside. Jack grabbed the ghost and held him up.

"Oh, too small. Better throw it back." He tossed Skulker to Danny, who powered up a Fenton Thermos and sucked the ghost inside.

"Dad, that was awesome! You know, for a fisherman you're not a half bad hunter," Danny complimented.

Jack puffed up proudly. "Thanks, son. This sure has been a fun day. I just wish I knew why they called it Lake Eerie."

 **###**

Ember had moved her concert from the park to the street in front of Town Hall. All three ghosts were marching across the stage.

"Give me a 'no!'" Spectra shouted.

"Give me a 'men!'" Kitty added.

"What does that spell?" Ember shouted.

"No men!" the women before the stage cheered. Maddie and Jazz watched from a distance, the younger Fenton female keeping an eye on her watch and waiting for the okay from Sam.

"Ghost Getter number three is in position," Jazz said. She looked to her mother. "Ghost Getter number four, let's go."

"Why am I number four?" Maddie protested.

There was a sharp whistle above the stage, and the three ghosts looked up to see Ice Ghost floating above them. He smiled and waved.

"You?!" Kitty spat.

"What is this? I thought your kiss got rid of all the men," Spectra said. Kitty glared at Spectra, then at the Ice Ghost, remembering what happened the last time they faced off. Enraged, she charged. The Ice Ghost moved on the defensive, blocking and dodging Kitty's ecto-blasts. She lashed out to punch and kick the other ghost, but he easily slid out of the way.

"What? Am I the only male you can't beat?" Alan teased. Normally he wasn't the type of person to taunt or gloat during a fight, but he needed to get Kitty angry enough to blow another kiss. This would be the easiest way.

Ember joined the fight, flying up and swinging her guitar around, trying to hit the other blue-haired ghost. At the same time, Kitty lashed out with her nails. The Ice Ghost blocked both attacks with his arms. A sparking white and blue electrical ring form at his feet and quickly travelled upwards, much like his transformation ring. But rather than turning him human, the aural projection generated a powerful blast of energy that blue both ghosts backwards.

When Kitty recovered, she brought a hand to her mouth and blew a kiss in the Ice Ghost's direction. Just like before, Ember played a power chord, boosting Kitty's attack.

"Just in case you missed some other men," Ember snapped. Before the attack could hit him, the Ice Ghost threw up a shield.

"Now!" Jazz shouted from her vantage point across the street.

"Time to dish out some justice!" Maddie declared, activating the Modulator. The green and teal energies collided, and all at once the missing men reappeared all across the city.

Dash, Kwan, and Tucker popped up in the middle of the army of women. They looked around, dazed and confused.

"Uh, why are all these women armed?" Dash asked no one in particular.

"What's happening? I see boys!" Kitty shouted from the stage, pointing to the jocks and techno geek.

"Look!" Spectra pointed across the street, where Jazz and Maddie had just emerged from the neighbouring building, grinning victoriously.

"Ha! It worked!" Jazz cheered.

"We've been tricked!" Spectra cursed. "Kitty, another-"

A blast of green energy hit Spectra in the chest, knocking her backwards. Behind the stage, Sam was kneeling while wearing some new green ghost hunting goggles on her forehead with the Fenton Bazooka braced against her shoulder. "Surprise!"

As Spectra flew through the air Jazz ran forwards, taking out her thermos and sucking the ghost inside. "Nice shooting Ghost Getter number three!"

Before Sam could take another shot, Ember jumped of the stage and swung her guitar, knocking the bazooka away. She moved to Jazz next, but the redhead was faster. She whipped out a Fenton Foamer and sprayed the rock star, freeing her for Sam to suck into her thermos.

"You're pretty handy with that weapon yourself," Sam said.

Maddie, meanwhile, had been knocked back by an ectoblast from Kitty and crashed into a trashcan. With the older ghost hunter out of the way, Kitty turned to the Ice Ghost who was heading straight for her. She threw an ectoblast, but the Ice Ghost swerved to the side and dodged, turning invisible while he did so. Spectra felt a chilling breeze watch over her, but couldn't find her opponent.

"Where are you?" she screeched. She was answered when the Ice Ghost appeared behind her and chopped the base of her neck. Kitty dropped, unconscious, and Sam dove forwards, sucking the final ghost in the thermos.

"Nice judo moves, Ice Cicle!" Jazz said.

Maddie nodded, once again giving the Ice Ghost an untrusting look. "Where did you learn to fight, ghost?"

"When I was human. Well, glad I could help… uh, see ya!" Before Maddie could threaten or question him anymore, the Ice Ghost flew away as fast as possible.

"Hm, and I was just about to ask him his name," Maddie said.

"Isn't it Ice Cicle?" Jazz asked.

"Of course not, sweetie. That's just a name the public gives him. Remember Inviso-Bill? I'd really rather not say Ice Cicle."

"Oh. At least me plan worked!" Jazz smiled, placing her hands on her hips, and grinned at Sam.

"Nice job… Ghost Getter number one," Sam said, reluctant to use Jazz's ridiculous name.

"Like daughter, like mother," Maddie said as she approached, hugging Jazz closely.

"Thanks, Mom." Jazz hugged her back, then sniffed and gagged at the smell of garbage. "Ew."

 **###**

Maddie was still picking garbage off her jumpsuit when she heard the front door open, signalling the return of Jack and Danny.

"Welcome home, guys. Did you catch anything?" she asked joyfully. Danny walked in, followed by Jack, who was dragging the sea monster. Because of its massive size, the walls cracked and broke apart as Jack forced it into the room. The same thing had happened with the front door, and outside the monster's back end and tailing were spilling into the street.

"Only a sea monster the size of Cleveland!" Jack shouted, motioning to the giant red beast.

"Well, you're gutting and cooking that," Maddie said. "Did you have a good time with your father, Danny?"

"Actually, yeah. Dad's not so bad when you get to know him," Danny joked. Jack smiled and pulled his son into a one armed hug.

"That moment when you totally blasted her!" Sam's voice was coming from the hallway.

"Not nearly as cool as when you- oh." Jazz and Sam entered the kitchen, ignoring the giant red monster taking up half the room. "Mom, we're getting ice cream. You want some?"

"Anything but a banana split, sweetie," Maddie said as she pulled a peel from her hair. All three of them laughed, and Sam and Jazz continued through the room talking jovially as they went and thinking nothing of the sea monster they had to pass in order to leave.

"Ice cream? Together? They're actually getting along?" Danny said, his voice laced with disbelief. "What, are they under a spell or something?"

"Okay, what did we missed around here today?" Jack asked, and both men crossed their arms, looking to Maddie.

"Nothing special. I'm just glad you're back." Maddie shrugged.

"Me too! No, can you help me stuff this thing in the freezer?" Jack jerked his thumb to the sea monster, oblivious to Danny and Maddie's doubtful expressions. None of them noticed as the monster's good eye twitched and opened.

 **Hope you liked it! Next Episode: March 4th**

 **Gonna try and push for a new episode every 1.5 weeks**


	6. The Fright's Sword

**Re uploaded and extended!** **Also, there is going to be a page on Face Book about this series! Once it's compete I'll put the link on my profile! Anyway, I hope you enjoy the episode and remember to review!**

The Ice Ghost always made a point of patrolling the city. He had seen Phantom and his friends do it on some occasions, but they couldn't keep a constant watch on the town. They _were_ teenagers, after all. But the Ice Ghost had very little else to do, and spent most of his free time looking out for any ghostly threats around the city. He watched, and listened, for anything that could indicate a ghost attack just in case his ghost sense didn't go off. That's why he veered sharply to follow the sound of a crying child. It was a little girl, the same one from the other day, wandering down the street on her own. Suspecting a repetition of events and wanting to help, the Ice Ghost flew lower to levitate above the tiny girl.

"Hello, little girl?" he called cautiously, not wanting to scare her.

The girl perked up and looked around. "Huh? W-who said that?"

"Up here."

The little girl finally looked up and smiled at the sight of the Ice Ghost. "Oh! Are you that ghostly person from before? The one Inviso-Bill, I-I mean Phantom, was fighting?"

The Ice Ghost smiled in return. "Yep, that's me." He flew lower so he was level with the girl. "Don't worry, I won't hurt you. Why are you crying?"

"I-I," the little girl sobbed, "I can't find my mommy!"

"Again?" The Ice Ghost sighed and smiled again. It was exactly what he suspected, but at least he found her before something bad could happen. "I'll help you look for her. What's your name?"

"Sophia!" She had stopped crying now, and said her name in staccato, _So-phi-a_. It was adorable.

"Okay, Sophia." The Ice Ghost finally lowered himself to the ground

Sophia grinned brightly. "You're Ice Cicle, right?"

The Ice Ghost grimaced. He hated that name, detested it. But for the moment it was the only name his ghostly identity had, and it would be easier for Sophia to keep using the name she knew, unless he decided to give out his real one. "Yep, that's me. It will be easier if we fly around to find your mom.

"Fly?!" Sophia gasped, squealing in excitement. She immediately started jumping up and down, as if she would suddenly lift off the ground of her own willing.

The Ice Ghost chuckled. "Wanna hop on my shoulders? I'll give you a piggyback ride!"

"Yay!" Sophia cheered and stopped bouncing, running over to the Ice Ghost.

He knelt down so she could climb onto his back and stood up once her arms were firmly wrapped around his neck. "Hang on tight," he told her as he took off. The Ice Ghost made sure to fly slowly, holding firmly onto Sophia's arms. The last thing he wanted was for her to fall off. They started looking around the area where she had been walking, taking detours down side streets and around neighboring blocks to cover as much area as possible.

"What does your mother look like?" the Ice Ghost asked, scanning the women on the sidewalk.

"She's the prettiest mother ever!" Sophia said.

The Ice Ghost laughed. "You're gonna have to be more specific than that."

"Specific?" Sophia asked, sounding out the word several times. "What does that mean?"

"Nothing." The Ice Ghost shook his head. "Just let me know if you recognize her."

They kept flying, and every little while Sophia would point to someone who had the same hair colour as her mother, or was wearing the same colour shirt, but none of them were her. Almost ten minutes had passed, and the Ice Ghost considered bringing Sophie to a police station instead when his ghost sense went off. He slowed to a stop, wary of the small girl on his back and looked around. There was nothing obvious.

"Ice Cicle, why did we stop?" Sophia asked, her hold tightening.

The Ice Ghost didn't answer her. He just kept scanning the street as he drift to the ground and set Sophia down. He would not let any ghosts harm her.

Sophia squeaked, grabbing his hand and pointing upwards; two ghosts had revealed themselves. The odd thing was they looked like stereotypical cartoon spooks with flowing green sheets draped over their bodies. They charged and Sophia shrieked.

"Stay behind me!" the Ice Ghost shouted, pulling Sophia back. He threw his arm up and a wall of ice rose from the ground. The two ghosts hit it head on and bounced away. The Ice Ghost's sense went off again. Before another enemy could make themselves known, he grabbed Sophia and turned them both invisible, gently covering her mouth while flying into an alley. Once they were both out of sight he let go, and she returned to the visible spectrum.

"Stay right here."

Sophia nodded, hugging herself.

The Ice Ghost flew up above the buildings, and the two ghosts that attempted an attack. But there was more than two of them now. He didn't waste time counting, instead making himself visible and whistling sharply. All at once the bed sheet ghosts whipped around to look at him and charged in unison. The Ice Ghost brought his fists up and bent his knees like he was standing on solid ground.

When the first ghost reached him, he lashed out and punched it in the chest. The hit didn't completely take it out, but the ghost was weak enough that it went flying away. He spun around and gifted the next ghost with a powerful roundhouse kick, then whipped his arm out and kept turned to bash another in the face with the back of his fist. He continued like that, each hit following through to the next, with the occasional ecto-blast thrown in. He didn't risk using his ice blasts. They were much more powerful than his normal ectoplasmic powers and were more harmful to humans as well. If one of his blasts strayed into the alley, Sophia could be killed.

The Ice Ghost kicked away the final ghost, followed with an ecto-blast to finish the fight, when there was a piercing scream. He flew to the alley where he had left Sophia and saw two bed sheet ghosts carrying her off. He must have missed a couple. And they weren't the only ones. As he rose out of the alley two more moved in for a pincer attack. The Ice Ghost brought his arms close to his chest then whipped them out, with this movement his aural projection flared around his feet and traveled upwards, blowing the ghosts back as the energy made contact.

He flew after Sophia and the other ghosts, reaching them before they could go more than a block over. The Ice Ghost shoved his palm against one, blasting it at point blank range, and kicked the other in the head. Sophia only dropped a couple feet before the Ice Ghost swooped over caught her. He brought them down gently, setting Sophia firmly on on the sidewalk. They're not on the ground for more than three seconds before another group of Halloween-looking ghosts appeared down the street.

The Ice Ghost felt Sophia's hands grip the back of his cape as she huddled close, and his fists glowed green as he gathered ectoplasmic energy. The ghosts froze, looking at him and then each other. There was a moment of stillness where the two sides watched each other, then the bed sheet ghosts fled. The Ice Ghost sighed in relief, gently tugging his cape out of Sophia's hands and giving her a reassuring smile.

"Sophia?!"

"Mommy?" Sophia spun around and started running towards a fairly pretty young woman that was hustling towards them. She jumped up when she reached her mother and hugged her tightly. The Ice Ghost felt a hollow ache in his chest as he watched.

"Ice Cicle saved me!" Sophia announced. The Ice Ghost took it as his cue to approach, and was reassured when Sophia's mother didn't scream.

"Thank you so much for saving my daughter, I was worried sick about her." She shifted Sophia in her arms and stuck out her hand. "My name's Elizabeth, but the way."

The Ice Ghost briefly took her hand and smiled. "You're welcome, Elizabeth."

"Thank you, Ice Cicle. Maybe I can help you find _your_ mommy if you lose her," Sophia said.

The Ice Ghost blinked in surprise, his expression becoming distant for a moment. He smiled a second later. "Thanks, Sophia. Well, I'm off. See ya." He flew away quickly, hearing a final "Thank you!" as he did.

 **###**

"He helped a little girl."

"I've helped little girls too."

"That's sort of the point, dude."

"But he beat up Valerie!"

"You've beat up Valerie too!"

Danny shot Tucker a sour look. " I don't do _that_."

Down the hall, Valerie was standing by her locker, covered in bruises.

"Tuck, I want him to be good too. Remember what Sam said about how he helped out when all the men disappeared?" Danny reminded him. Sam had told them the story last night, as Danny regaled his own hunter problem.

"Yeah, dude. That was like the first thing I mentioned," Tucker said.

"Oh, was it? I don't remember that."

Tucker chuckled. "Maybe all those hits to the head are messing with you, man. Maybe _that's_ why your grades are so bad."

"Wow, thanks Tucker. I feel so reassured," Danny said.

"Anything for my best friend!"

"Sure, but back to the Ice Ghost."

"What about him?" Sam asked as she walked up to her friends.

"Danny's still on the fence," Tucker whispered loudly.

"And you're all for him?"

"You're not?" Danny and Tucker chorused.

Sam grimaced, shifted her backpack. "Yeah, I mean no, I mean… he does a lot of good stuff, right? So he's obviously a good guy. But have you guys seen Valerie today? It's her first day back since they fought, and she looks…."

The boys nodded.

"Valerie made him angry, I'm sure of it. So he's good, but if he gets mad he won't hold back. I think that's a halfa thing," Sam said, giving Danny a significant look.

"What do you mean?" Danny asked.

"Dude, when you get mad? You can be kind of scary. Vlad's really sarcastic when he says it, but you _do_ have scary eyes," Tucker said.

"And that time with Freakshow? Sure, you were mind controlled to do bad, but you were just scary all together," Sam added.

"Okay, okay, I get it. Benefit of the doubt. Innocent until proven guilty, good until proven evil. Not that I think he's evil," Danny said quickly.

Sam and Tucker rolled their eyes and grabbed Danny's arms, dragging him outside to their usual tree for lunch. They dropped the subject when the sat down and instead focused on eating for a few silent minutes. Sam was taking a bite of her salad when she noticed something. Looking around the schoolyard, she spotted the usual crowd of A-listers gathered by their usual picnic table. But someone was absent from their group. She scanned the tables, and her eyes settled on one a ways off from the others. It was closer to the trio's tree, a fairly secluded spot, than it was to the other benches. There was a single occupant.

Sam frowned. "That's weird."

"What?" Danny asked, barely looking up from his sandwich.

"Have you ever noticed how Alan hardly ever sits with the other A-listers, even though he is one?"

Danny followed Sam's stare to their classmate, his sandwich lowering away from his mouth. "That is weird."

"Yeah." Sam nodded thoughtfully. "He doesn't really talk to anyone either. Not unless he needs something or if someone else talks first. At least that's what he's like in geography."

"I mean, he really doesn't seem like a bad guy. Not like the other popular kids." Tucker scowled in the direction of the A-listers' table

"Maybe we misjudged him," Sam said.

"Maybe." Danny recalled his slightly hostile behavior a few days past. He gave some of his enemies more leeway than that, and immediately felt guilty. "We don't know that much about him, do we?"

Tucker, true to form, reached for his PDA. "Nope, not really, but I did hear a rumor. Apparently both his parents are missing."

"Wait, seriously?" Danny asked, finally dropping his sandwich completely.  
"Uh-huh. That explains why no one knows anything about them."

"Maybe we should talk to him? Sam suggested. "He doesn't seem to have any real friends here."

Tucker shrugged. "Sure, why not. Danny?"

"There's no harm, right?" Danny said, remembering all the times interacting with A-listers brought him harm. Sam stood up first and the boys followed. Alan was just slipping his lunchbox into his backpack when he looked up and saw them approach.

"Hi," Sam said.

"H-hi." Alan greeted them shyly.

"I'm Sam, Sam Manson."

"Y-yeah, I know.

"Right, same class."

There was a moment of awkward silence before Tucker interrupted. "Woah, what happened to you?"

Alan was trying to hide it be holding his arms close to his body, but with a short-sleeved shirt on, it was all too easy to see the plethora of bruises across his skin. They were various shades of blue and black, and a couple of them were a decent size and shape. One that Danny recognized from his own fights.

"Oh, it's nothing," Alan answered quickly. "It happened at karate practice."

"You take karate?" Danny asked.

"Um, uh-huh."

Sam walked around to the other side of the table and slid onto the bench beside Alan. "Mind if we sit here?"

"N-no. You can if you want." The A-lister gave them a small but warm smile. Danny and Tucker sat down across from them and quickly resumed eating their lunches.

"So what belt are you?" Sam asked.

"Well, I recently became a tenth degree black belt."

The trio froze, their eyes widening.

"Tenth degree?" Danny gaped. His mother was a ninth degree, and she always stressed how it was harder to advance once you reached the black belt. She was an exceptional fighter on any given day. He wondered how good Alan must have been.

"That's so cool!" Tucker gushed.

Sam rolled her eyes at the boys and their shocked reactions. Considering one of them was half ghost, and the other was a certifiable tech genius, they should know not to underestimate people. "So how did you reach that level so fast?"

Alan chuckled nervously, looking a little uncomfortable at all the attention. "I've been doing karate since I was four. I don't know, I guess I'm just a quick learner."

Tucker was about to comment when an accented voice carried across the yard. "Alaaan?"

Alan's eyes widened. "Oh, crap. Be back when she's gone!" He jumped up from their table and dove behind the nearest tree. From their angle, the trio could see the toes of his boots peeking out behind the roots. But as Paulina approached she saw nothing.

"You nobodies haven't seen Alan anywhere, have you?" the Latina asked, looking at the trio with open scorn.

"No," Sam snapped.

Paulina huffed, crossing her arms. "I have so many questions to ask him," she whined. "Don't you losers try to talk to him. He's way too cool for you guys."

Danny, Sam, and Tucker watched Paulina walk away, varying degrees of annoyance etched onto their faces. If this were freshman year Danny and Tucker would have been drooling all over her, but they had matured a lot over their short ghost hunting careers. Tucker still chased after half their classmates, but both boys could now recognize that Paulina wasn't worth their efforts, not matter how pretty she was.

"Is she gone?" Alan slowly emerged from his hiding place.

"Yeah." Danny nodded.

Alan sighed in relief and reclaimed his seat beside Sam.

"You don't like Paulina?" Tucker asked.

"Nope." Alan shook his head sharply.

"She's supposed to be the most beautiful girl in Casper High, most boys instantly drool over her.  
Danny pointedly ignored the look Sam was giving him and added, "When they first meet her. Why not you?"

Alan shrugged. "Eh. It's just a little bit of make-up, plus she's Paulina. She's mean and very annoying…."

"You're my new friend," Sam deadpanned, then smirked.

Alan smiled back. "Ha, thanks."

"So, we're going to the arcade after school, want to come?" Sam asked, looking at Danny and Tucker for confirmation. They both shrugged and nodded.

"Yeah, sure. As long as you don't mind." The piercing sound of the bell spilled out the school doors. "Well, see you after school."

"He's not actually a bad guy," Tucker said once Alan was out of earshot. "What do you think?"

"Didn't you hear me? Anyone who sees through Paulina that quickly is my friend," Sam said.

"I guess he's alright," Danny added. He had to admit, he had been quick to judge Alan. Granted, he wasn't the only one. Sam and Tucker had been just as scornful to him a few days ago. But Sam, being who she was, was of course the first one of them to realize he wasn't like the others. Danny blamed some of his behaviour on his ghost fighting. The first time he fought the Lunch Lady, the first ghost fight he ever had, he approached her with the mindset that he could talk her away. Or that she wouldn't actually be bad. He was quickly proven wrong. Over time Danny had quickly given up trying to talk his enemies down from a fight. Sure, there would be the standard witty banter and he would ask them what they're doing. But he no longer approached knew ghosts thinking they could potentially be good, they had to prove it to him now.

Danny shook his head, a little disappointed in himself, but knew it was a mindset that had saved him in the past.

 **###**

Dash Baxter prided himself with being the King of Casper High. It was a self-proclaimed title, at least until it could be proven at their senior prom. But he remained on his perch unopposed. It had been that way since middle school. It probably would have been that way in elementary school to, but little kids were always less hierarchical, and everyone sort of got along back then.

Either way, Dash was confident he would never be shaken from his throne. Until Alan came to Casper High. Alan had quickly become popular, and was readily welcomed into the A-list club. Dash had been okay with it, at first. But not anymore.

He tracked Alan down at the end of the day, when most people were still milling about in the halls. Dash cut him off as he was walking down the hall, slamming his hand against the lockers. "What are you playing at, Carton?"

"Hm?" Alan stopped, giving him a puzzled look.

"I said, what are you playing at?"

"Uh, nothing," Alan said.

Dash scowled. "Don't lie to me. _I'm_ the king here.

"Um, alright then?"

Dash looked at Alan blankly. That's all he had to say, 'Alright then?' To some people-Dash-being the king meant something. To some-Dash again-it meant something to other people too. It meant people had to _listen_ to him.

"Are you giving me lip, Carton?" Dash growled.

Alan shook his head. "No, not really."

"Then tell me something. What's so special about you that makes you so popular?" Dash didn't get it, he just found Alan annoying.

"Uh, I don't know." Alan shrugged. "I'm just nicer, I guess."

"I'm nice!"

"Um, no, not really." Alan glanced down at his phone, checking the time. "Well, I have to go. So, uh, see ya later."

Alan ducked under Dash's arm and the jock watched him walk down the hall.

Dash couldn't believe it. No one talked back to him! Well, Danny sometimes did, but he always got beat up for it. Which meant Alan couldn't get away with it either. Before the faux A-lister had even left the building Dash gathered the two closest football players and took off after him. They followed Alan through Amity Park to a rec centre. On the front door was a sign reading 'Closed For Weekly Practice.'

Dash and his goons crept around the building to the nearest window and peered inside. Alan was in the middle of the room standing on a blue mat. He wore a white karate gi and the black belt tied around his waist had two thick red bars on each end. Several other teenagers of varying ages knelt around the mat while an older man stood beside Alan. They were all wearing a gi.

"Alright, everyone," the man, the class' instructor, said. His voice carried easily through the open window. "We'll start today with some sparring. Two of you against Alan."

The kneeling students groaned.

"Anyone who feels like getting their butts kicks, step forwards."

There was silence, and Dash even saw a few of the students subtly shuffle away from the mat. The instructor was watching them sternly, waiting for someone to step up. He quickly gave up and assigned two people instead. Like Alan, they both wore black belts, but the boy only had one thin line of red on his, while the girl had two thin lines. Dash frowned at the colored stripes, trying to figure out their significance.

"Ready?" the instructor asked. Alan crouched, drawing up his fists into a ready stance. His two opponents, who stood on either side of the mat, did the same. Each of their stances was a little bit different from the others'. "Fight!"

The first of Alan's opponents ran forwards and threw a basic punch. Alan easily ducked underneath the hit and slid to the side to avoid the kick from the other fighter. He grabbed the outstretched leg and tugged, throwing the girl off balance, and blocked the boy's next punch. Alan pulled the boy's arm forwards, striking his shoulder with an open palm and finishing him off with a roundhouse kick that sent him off the mat. The girl recovered from her stumble and threw of a volley of quick, well-aimed punches. Alan either dodged or blocked all of them. As he ducked one of the blows, he swept his leg out and kicked her feet out from under her. She dropped backwards onto the mat, and the instructor announced the end of the match.

Alan's opponents stood, and they bowed to each other.

"Ow," the boy groaned as he rose, rubbing his shoulder.

"Sorry," Alan said, his apology punctuated by a light chuckle.

"Look, man, I like living," the jock beside Dash said. "I'm not messing with him, I'm out." He and Dash's other friend ran down the street.

"Uhh, we-well, yeah. I guess what he said wasn't so bad. We can leave him alone, _this_ time," Dash said to himself and ran after his friends.

 **###**

In a lush mansion in Wisconsin, surrounded by the largest collection of Packers memorabilia in the world, Vlad Masters was relaxing with a cup of tea and a good book. His cat, Maddie, was curled up on his lap and purring happily each time the billionaire's hand stroked her fur. He was in the process of flipping to the next page when when a black horse with bat-like wings and a flaming purple mane burst through his ceiling. The Fright Knight leapt from his steed and grabbed the collar of Vlad's suit, yanking him off the chair.

Maddie yowled as she was thrown from her favorite seat and hissed and scratched at the knighted ghost while he slammed Vlad against the ground.

"Traitor!" Fright Knight shouted, raising his sword in the air.

"Me the traitor?! What is the meaning of this?" Vlad spat, kicking the Fright Knight off of him.

"Where is my sword?" the knight roared.

"You dolt! If you had half a brain cell, you would know that it's in your hand," Vlad shouted back. He was so tired of his minions' incompetence. Dealing with Skulker was bad enough.

"No! Not this one. This is just from Pariah's castle. Where is _my_ sword?" The Fright Knight threw the simple steel blade aside. It struck the floor beside Maddie, making the luffy cat yowl again and jump away.

"I don't know," Vlad hissed and blasted the Fright Knight across the room. "Stop scaring my cat!"

The Fright Knight lunged for his replacement sword and ran at Vlad, shoving him against the wall and holding the blade's point against his throat.

"This is your last chance! Tell me where my sword is!"

"You idiot, are you deaf? I don't have your Soul Shredder, I don't _need_ it."

"You have lied to me before, halfa," the Fright Knight spat.

"And I'm not the only halfa you've ever fought. Go pester the one in Amity Park, He could know," Vlad said, feeling more exasperated than actually threatened.

"Don't be stupid! Why would he- ah, yes, he would know where it is." With that, the Fright Knight let go of Vlad and mounted his horse, taking off without another word.

Vlad stared around his living room in dismay, eyeing the slash in his floor and the shaking cat clinging to the draperies. He really didn't like unexpected house guests.

 **###**

The Ice Ghost had settled in for another long evening of patrol. He was half expecting to see Sophia out and lost again, but was thankful when he didn't. That wasn't something he wanted to become a regular thing. His ghost sense had gone off almost a minute ago and he was looking for the source. No enemies made themselves known, meaning someone was lurking out of sight.

His search was interrupted by a large purple crystal meteor soaring towards him. The Ice Ghost barely had time to put up a shield of ice and the meteor hit it head on. Rather than stopping or bouncing back, it barreled through the wall of ice and the ghost was knocked to the ground, his body leaving a crater in the road. The meteor itself smashed into a closed shop and the walls came down around it. When the Ice Ghost stood, he saw the Fright Knight and his mount rising out of the rubble.

"Other ghost child, where is my sword?" the knight demanded.

The Ice Ghost stared pointedly at the blade in the Fright Knight's hand. "...You're holding it..."

"No, not this one! My real sword. The Soul Shredder, the blade that cuts you down with your ultimate fear!" Fright Knight stated grandly.

"I don't know," Alan said.

"If you don't tell me, I will force you. I know you have the location," the ghost threatened.

"I don't know," the Ice Ghost insisted.

"Very well, then. You shall feel the power worse than a ghost horde until you tell me the location of my mighty sword!" Twin pink ghost rays were fired from the eye slit in the knight's helmet. The Ice Ghost flew up to avoid the rays and the Fright Knight followed, Nightmare's wings beating furiously as the ghostly horse gave chase. On his steed, the Fright Knight caught up quickly and swung his sword. The flat side of the blade struck the halfa's side. Although the swing looked light there was a fair bit of power behind it and the Ice Ghost was thrown away. He tumbled in the air and recovered just before he could hit the street. He backflipped to avoid the next swing and ended up in a narrow space between two buildings.

The Fright Knight teleported in front of him in an instant, ready to slash. The Ice Ghost reeled back in an attempt to dodged, but he had limited space to move, and in his panic didn't think of turning intangible. The sharp edge slid along his side, slicing clean through his jumpsuit. The Ice Ghost screamed, clutching his side, and collapsed as green blood started bubbling between his fingers.

 **###**

Danny, Sam, and Tucker were gathered outside Amity Park's only arcade. They didn't go there often, usually preferring to play their games at home like most teenagers. They had been waiting there for almost twenty minutes.

"He's a little late," Sam said. She scowled, hoping she didn't misjudge Alan.

"Maybe he had to take care of some bad guys with his awesome karate skills," Tucker suggested.

Danny laughed. "Maybe he-"

" _Aaah!_ "

"What was that?" Sam asked, their heads turning in the direction of the scream.

"Sounds like ghost trouble," Danny said. He ran behind the arcade. "Going ghost!"

Danny Phantom flew out from behind the building and headed towards the source of the screen, Sam and Tucker close behind on their scooters.

 **###**

The Fright Knight loomed over his opponent, taking in the Ice Ghost's pained expression with victory. Green ectoplasmic blood had pooled underneath the halfa.

"Now, unless you want me to destroy you, you will tell me where my sword- ack!"

Danny barreled into the alley, kicking the Fright Knight past the Ice Ghost's shaking form. He landed beside the ghostly knight, taking out a Fenton Thermos, and pressed it against the ghost's back. In a flash of blue light he was gone.

Danny capped the thermos as Sam and Tucker arrived, and they rushed to the Ice Ghost's side. Piercing blue eyes briefly met neon green before the other halfa passed out. As soon as his eyes closed a ring of electricity formed from the Ice Ghost's feet. The transformation ring traveled up, revealing jeans, a green shirt, and brown hair. It was Alan.

The trio gaped at his still figure. They always laughed at how oblivious Amity Park's citizens were and considered themselves to be smarter than that. Apparently not. But Alan was a shy kid who spoke quietly. The Ice Ghost wasn't loud, but he was normal, and outgoing. Even though the Ice Ghost only showed up after Alan moved to Amity Park, they hadn't made the connection because of how different the two people were. But it made sense to Danny. As Fenton, he was a loser who got bad grades and ran away at the first sign of a ghost. Not to mention his parents _hunted_ ghosts. But as Phantom he was confident, witty, and brave. Alan was apparently the same way.

They shook their heads, breaking out of their shock.

"Tucker, call the hospital," Sam said.

"On it!"

"I can get him there faster," Danny said. He reached out to grab Alan when there was a familiar sound of screeching brakes and slamming doors. Danny quickly transformed and returned to Fenton just before his parents appeared at the mouth of the narrow alley.

"Where is he?" Jack shouted, hoisting his Fenton Blaster. "Where is that spooky knight ghost?"

"Jack," Maddie said sternly. She had seen her son and his friends, and the boy lying on the ground.

"I'll tear him back to the medieval times!" Jack announced.

"Jack!" Maddie shouted.

"Yeah, baby?" Jack asked, and he looked where his wife was pointing.

"We have to get him to the hospital!" Danny shouted at his parents.

"The ambulance is on the way!" Tucker said, pocketing his phone. The trio hovered by Alan's side, thankful his blood had turned back to red when he transformed. That wasn't something they could hide from Danny's parents.

Maddie ran out of the alley, presumably to the RV, and returned with a first aid kit in her hands. "I have to clean his wound and stop the bleeding in the meantime." She shoved the kit into Danny's hands. He opened it and started taking out the familiar items while Maddie cut away Alan's shirt. Tucker and Sam helped her roll Alan onto his other side.

Danny passed his mother gauze pads and tape, taking Alan's shirt from her and pressing it tightly against his wound. He started down at Alan, the third halfa in the world, and felt guilty for almost hating him.

 **###**

Alan was back at school in two weeks. His surgery went well, and Maddie's patch job helped save his life. His recovery was coming along nicely and he was released in record time. Only he and the trio knew it was in part thanks to his ghostly side. None of the tests the doctors took revealed anything odd about Alan or his DNA, which was a relief for everyone. Danny and Tucker visited him a couple times throughout his hospital stay while Sam went everyday after class to keep him up to date on geography.

Despite the doctor's suggestion, Alan only took two extra days of rest at home. He knew he could handle any stress that would come with returning to school early. Except maybe Paulina.

"Hey, Alan!"

Alan sighed in annoyance and turned. "What is it, Paulina?"

"Where have you been? You've been gone for so long," Paulina whined, twirling her hair around her finger. She batted her eyes at him, the same way she did for any other guy she was trying to manipulate.

"There was a ghost attack and I got pretty injured," Alan explained.

"Really?" Paulina's eyes widened. "Anything else you want to tell me?"

"Paulina, not now." Alan shook his head and started to walk away. He didn't want to be late.

"Aw, come on," Paulina whined again. She followed him and grabbed his sides to pull him back. Alan yelped, quickly cutting off the sound, and jumped away from Paulina. She froze when she saw his hands drift to his right side. "Is that where you were hurt?"

"Yeah." Alan nodded, wincing slightly. "Just don't grab there." He turned again, adding, "And leave me alone," before he walked away, missing Paulina's scowl and groan of annoyance. He was on his way outside for lunch, skirting around the congregations of students that had yet to do the same, when he heard someone mention his name. Well, his ghost half's name.

"And no one's seen Ice Icle since the fight!"

Alan stopped and looked at Kwan and Star, his hand drifting down to his side. He wasn't going to forget that pain any time soon, especially when it still hurt. And there was still the missing sword to think about, and what he apparently had to do with it. Alan put it out of his mind for now as he continued to listen to their conversation.

"So what do you think of his name? I think it's kind of cool!"

"I don't know," Star shrugged, "sort of lame. Is that really even his name?"

"Well, probably not. We thought Phantom's name was Inviso-Bill until he said his real name," Kwan said.

Star nodded and looked past Kwan to see Alan. "Hey, you're back!"

Kwan turned and grinned. "Dude, where have you been?"

Alan shuffled his feet and shrugged. "Hospital. A ghost attack happened, I'll be fine."

"Okay," Star said, as peppy as ever. "What do you think Ice Cicle's real name is?"

Alan not so discreetly looked away, scratching his cheek as he pretended to be deep in thought. "Hm… how am I supposed to know?"

"I guess we'll have to wait until he says it. Oh well," Kwan said.

"Yeah. See you later, Alan," Star said, and the two A-listers headed off in Paulina's direction.

Alan decided he would have to tell them his name soon. Ice Cicle had to go. Or, he would at least say his first name. He did still have an identity to keep secret, but he didn't see any harm in just his first name. After all, the people of Amity Park had yet to put two and two together with Danny.

Outside, Alan grabbed his usually table away from the others. He was starting to regret ignoring his doctor's orders. He was exhausted and his side was killing him, but he didn't want to fall behind. He was picking at his lunch when Sam sat down across from him.

"How's your wound?" she asked as she took out her own lunch.

"I'm still recovering…" Alan said.

"Don't push yourself," Sam reminded him.

"Thanks." Alan looked around expecting, a little surprised when he didn't see the two remaining members of the trio. "Where's Danny and Tucker?"

"They got into some trouble with Lancer, they had to see him at the start of lunch," Sam explained.

"Oh." Alan winced, holding his side. He saw Sam's pointed expression and quickly pulled his hand away. "Ow, well, uhh…. What are you eating?"

"Salad." Sam stabbed a piece of lettuce with her fork for emphasis. "Same as usual."

"Don't eat meat?" In his short time at Casper High, Alan was certain he hadn't seen Sam with any kind of food that was once living.

"Nope. How'd you know?" she asked. Most people didn't pay enough attention to notice her particular dietary measures, and as far as she knew Alan had only seen her eat once before.

"You're quite thin," he explained.

Sam frowned slightly and looked down, very aware of her exposed midriff. It didn't seem like much of an explanation. Paulina was thin, Star was thin, neither of them were vegetarians. Sam's progressive mind, one used to facing lots of opposition, wondered if there was a particular reason Alan was bringing up her meal choice. "Is that a problem?"

"Nope."

"Good." Sam nodded firmly. It was nice not having someone question her choices.

"So, um, why don't you eat meat?"

Or not. But Alan sounded genuinely curious, not condescending. "I'm an ultra-recyclo vegetarian. No meat, no wasteful eating."

Alan smiled. "Hm, neat."

"Thanks. Most people don't react like that." Sam smiled back

"I eat some meat," Alan said, sounding genuinely apologetic for it. "If I didn't I would have broken a lot more bones in karate."

"Tucker's practically a carnivore." Sam rolled her eyes. "If you don't have a problem with me not eating meat, I won't have a problem that you do."

"Hehe, thanks." Alan winced again and hunched over. Laughing definitely strained his wound.

"Hey, whoa, take it easy." Sam leaned across the table and put a hand on Alan's shoulder. She kept it there until he was able to sit back up, offering her a grateful smile.

"So, who the hell was that knight?" he asked. "I may have heard of him, but…."

"The Fright Knight? He was once the minion of Pariah Dark, former Ghost King. He doesn't actually get out much but… I guess you should know, you and Danny aren't the only halfas."

Alan's eyes widened. "Seriously?"

"You've probably heard of him. Vlad Masters, the billionaire? He's an old friend of Danny's parents, and he's basically Danny's nemesis. The Fright Knight usually works for him now."

"Whoa, wait… what?" Alan gaped, and Sam was little surprised by his reaction, considering a moment ago he hadn't even known who the Fright Knight was, or who Vlad truly was.

"Since Danny and a few other ghosts sealed Pariah back up when he made his last appearance, Fright Knight's been roaming a lot. Vlad basically hired him. Skulker works for him too sometimes," she finished explaining.

Alan's brow furrowed and it looked like he was thinking deeply about something.

"Hey, Alan. I've been meaning to ask you, how did you-"

"Hey, guys! Lancer let us go!" Tucker loudly announced his and Danny's presence as they joined the table.

"Oh, hey guys," Alan said, broken from his reverie.

"You guys still in for the movie tonight?" Danny asked.

"You know it!" Tucker grinned and high-fived his best friend.

"I'll bring the popcorn," Sam added.

"Alan, are you going to come?" Danny looked at the other halfa.

"Okay." Alan nodded. "I… may be a bit late because of my wound.

"No worries, dude. Do you know how often we've had to wait on Danny?" Tucker said lightly, nudged Danny.

"Hey, don't I get some kind of hero leeway?" the halfa protested.

"No," Sam and Tucker deadpanned.

Alan laughed, which only ended up making him wince again as a sharp pain shot up his side. "Ow. It hurts to laugh."

"I know how it feels," Danny said seriously. "Just don't strain yourself.

"I told him that already," said Sam.

"Oh. Tuck, you say it."

"Don't strain yourself," Tucker said without missing a beat.

"Now we can all say we told you so if you don't listen," Sam finished.

Alan smiled as the bell rang. "Okay. Well, see you after school."

Danny and Tucker quickly wolfed down their lunches while he walked away.

 **###**

Sam's house was always the best to watch movies at, but sometimes her parents could be overwhelming. Not to mention the constant dirty looks they would give Danny. Which is why they were watching a movie at Fenton Works. Danny, Sam, and Tucker were on the sofa while Alan claimed the love seat, lying in the most comfortable position he could without pulling on his stitches. He looked tired, and it was obvious the wound was still affecting him.

"Danny, how come you didn't just fly me to the hospital?" Alan asked. It wasn't an unexpected question.

"My parents got there before I could, and I had to transform. They would have shot me if they saw me, which would have done more harm than good in the state you were in. Not that my parents shooting me would ever do good." Danny, who was sitting with his head laying back against the cushion, flopped over slightly so he was looking at Alan. "How did you know that I'm Danny Phantom?"

"Well, you have the same build, the same hair, same facial structure, voice… and since I'm also half ghost I know that transforming changes your appearance," Alan explained.

Sam was listening thoughtful as Alan spoke, staring blankly at the movie and not really paying attention to what was going on. There was something about the way he said it that bothered her. She turned back to him to ask about it, but saw his eyes were closed as his chest was rising and falling gently. She smirked. "Whoops."

"Woah. Should we wake him? Tucker asked, leaning forwards to see past Sam and Danny.

"No, not yet. He needs to rest. We'll wake him when he has to head home," Danny said, turning back to the movie.

Sam settled back into her seat, still thinking. Alan knew that halfa's two appearances are generally similar. Vlad could be considered a little out there, but that was mostly the crazy hair. But Alan was even more out there. Everything was blue, there was no basic color switching. So why would he have expected Danny's two sides to look similar?

How did Alan become a halfa anyway, and why do his two halves look so different?

 **The Ice Ghost's** **identity** **has been** **reveled** **! Tell me in the reviews if you predicted right! Also this is the first ghost fight Alan lost! Hope you enjoyed! Next Episode: March 18th! Be sure not to miss it!**


	7. Torrent of Terror

**Forgive me for the week long delay x( it wasn't quite ready yet. On the bright side, you get Episode 8 a week early! Anyway, I hope you enjoy this one! Please, review if you can! :)**

All eyes were on the small round screen showing a massive tornado sweep through the countryside, picking fence, cows, and trucks as it went.

"Major meteorological events!"

The scene changed to a city tormented by lightning strikes and ominous red clouds. Above the chaos a shadowy figure hovered.

"Towns have been wiped out! Hundreds of lives have been lost..." The Observant in the center of the room turned, looking at the stands full of more ghosts just like him. He focused his eye on the multitude of screens circling the room and the ghosts looking down on him through them. "Observant High Council, what say you?"

"Guilty! Guilty!" The Observants on the screen chanted.

The speaking Observant drifted to a darkened cylinder in plain view of all present ghosts. A pair of glowing red eyes were the only thing visible inside. "Before we pronounce sentence, have you anything to, Vortex?"

The lights in the cylinder snapped on, revealing a green ghost with a tornado-like tail instead of legs. His black vest had a V made from lightning bolts on the front. "Yes, fry!" Vortex shouted. Blue electricity crackled from his eyes, a similar energy gathering around his hands as he lifted them high and laughed, ready to strike the Observant down.

The surge of electricity activated a barometer hovering over the cell, and Vortex's attack was sent back at himself. The ghost screamed in pain as he felt the power of his own attack.

"Your weather powers are rendered inert by our Spectral Barometer, Vortex," the Observant said. "There is no possible way for you to escape."

"Oh, I wouldn't say that!"

The Observant turned to the figure hovering over his shoulder, dressed in the protective gear of the guards. The figure raised a glowing purple hand and fired ecto-rays at the Observant and other guards. He charged the staff in his hands and blasted the screens showing the High Council while the remaining Observants fled.

"Who are you?" Vortex asked when only he and the disguised guard remained.

"Plasmius. Vlad Plasmius." Vlad pulled off his helmet and smashed the glass of Vortex's cage with his staff.

Vortex grinned, and together they broke through the Observants' lair and flew off into the Ghost Zone.

"Free. Finally, free!" Vortex shouted gleefully.

Behind him, Vlad smirked and raised his hand. He gathered a dense ball of ectoplasm in his palm and fired it at Vortex. The energy exploded as it made contact with the weather ghost and made him falter.

"Oh, no. You're not free yet. As a thanks for freeing you, you are going to let me borrow your powers," Vlad said.

"What? Never! The weather is my art, and mine alone! I will not simply let you borrow my power," Vortex shouted.

"Don't make me take them by force. We can be allies if you comply, friend."

"I am far from your friend, I am your worst nightmare!" Vortex raised his arms and several lightning bolts leapt from the murky green sky towards Vlad. The hafla dodged and returned the attack with a volley of condensed ecto-blasts. Vortex released a gust of wind strong enough to blow the ecto-blasts back, and Vlad as well. Vortex followed it with another lightning blast, which struck Vlad in the chest and shocked him into unconsciousness.

"Finally, I'm free! I will show this pathetic world my power!" Vortex laughed and flew away, leaving the immobile Plasmius drifting in the Ghost Zone.

###

It wasn't often that Danny got the opportunity to study. He used most of his time for ghost fighting, training, or hanging out, all of which were incredibly important and could not be cut into for school work. But nothing was stopping them from cutting into his study time. Danny groaned as his ghost sense went off. He glanced up and saw the reflection of Vlad's ghost half on his sleeping computer.

"Plasmius?" Danny spun around and transformed. "What do you want and what are you doing here?!"

"Calm down, Daniel. I have no time to fight you," Vlad said. "I must resort to humiliatingly desperate measures." Vlad paused, his scowling falling into a concerned expression. "Daniel, I need your help."

"What?" Danny asked, surprised. "With what?"

###

"Nice move, Plasmius," Danny commented. That day Amity Park had been having what was possibly the nicest weather in weeks. If Danny hadn't already been outside that morning to experience it for himself, he never would have known. The two halfas were flying through gale winds so strong the rain was practically falling sideways. It had been strong enough to break through Danny's window before Vlad explained the situation. "Unleashing an evil weather ghost from the Observants? And for what reason?"

"I have no time to explain anymore, Daniel!" Vlad shouted, the only way he could be heard through the roaring wind. "The important thing is if we're going to defeat Vortex, we're going to have to do it together!"

They flew towards a large cloud shaped like a skull. When the neared it, the bottom jaw fell open and a wispy tongue rolled out. Vortex was seated on top of it.

"Come to admire my greatness up close?" the weather ghost asked. His gaze drifted over Vlad to Danny. "A ghost boy? So you're the one they call Danny," Vortex gasped heavily and morphed, splitting into four neon green clouds, "Phantom."

"Actually, you'll find I'm more than one these day," Danny said. He squeezed his eyes shut in concentration, muttering to himself, "Come on, come one." A green aura surrounded him and three duplicates popped into existence by his side. "I did it!" the four Danny's chorused.

Vlad, who was hovering by Danny's side, was impressed. It took him years to get a handle on his powers, especially the stronger ones like duplication. Danny had only been a halfa for a little over a year, yet he managed to grasp this power without any guidance in such a short time. Two of Danny's duplicates threw ecto-blasts at the Vortex clouds, though the attacks were quickly eaten. All four Vortex's opened their mouths wide and took deep breathes. They blew outward, the force of the wind pushed all four Danny's towards each other and forced them back together

Vlad smirked. "Still can't work that one out, eh Daniel?"

"Can it, Plasmius," Danny shouted back.

Vortex merged back together into a single body. He blew into his hands and snow gathered on his palms. He threw the pall of tightly packed powder at Danny. Vlad quickly darted in front of the younger halfa and raised a pink ecto-shield.

"Aw, saving me in battle? I'm touched, 'Uncy Vlad,'" Danny cooed mockingly.

"Are you going to give me banter or help me fight this thing?!"

Honestly, Danny almost preferred the banter.

###

"Breaking news over Amity Park! Amity Park's own hero, Danny Phantom who appears to be with the Wisconsin Ghost, is engaged in an epic battle with some sort of weather ghost!"

Throughout the city Sam, Tucker, and Alan were watching the broadcast from their respective homes. At Fenton Works, the Fentons were gathered in their kitchen, eyes glued to the TV.

"Danny should see this," Maddie said urgently. "Where is he-"

"He's at Sam's! He called! He's fine!" Jazz shouted.

"-anyway?" Maddie finished.

###

Danny was flying in loops trying to avoid Vortex's lighting blasts. Moments ago Vlad had been hit and sent flying out of sight, so he was on his own. He swerved to avoid flying face first into the side of a building. The lighting exploded against the bricks wherever it hit, each one closer to the halfa than the last. Finally one hit close enough that Danny was caught up in the blast and thrown from the sky. He tumbled down to the street and hit the ground with enough force to leave a crater.

"Your dreary efforts bore me, ghost boy. I was expecting a more electrifying performance from you!"

Vortex raised his fists to fire a huge combined lighting blast when an ominous wail drifted down the street. A blue ray of ice struck Vortex. While it didn't damage him, there was enough force behind the attack that he was pushed away. Alan, in his ghost form, touched down beside Danny out of breath and holding his wounded side.

"Alan, what are you doing? You're still not in any condition to fight ghosts," Danny protested.

"Well, if you and the Wisconsin Ghost can't fight him alone, I might as well help. Where is he anyway?" Alan asked as caught his breath.

"He was blasted earlier, but he should be back by now."

As Danny spoke, Vortex reappeared at the end of the street.

"We'll worry about him later," Alan said.

###

"Ice Cicle has joined the fight! However, the Wisconsin Ghost is nowhere to be seen."

Sam was on the edge of her seat watching the report, her eyes wide at the sight of the two halfas. "Alan? What is he doing there?"

###

Vortex bombarded the two half-ghost teens with a series of electric attacks. Alan blocked the attacks by putting up a shield of ice, but the simple action took a lot of energy from him, and he hunched over in pain afterwards. Despite this he still followed Danny as the white-haired ghost went for a direct attack. Alan and Vortex attacked at the same time. Seconds after the blast of lightning hit Danny, Alan's ball of ice exploded against the weather ghost's chest, drawing Vortex's attention while Danny recovered.

Vortex punched Alan and sent him flying back into the nearest building. Danny gathered as much ectoplasm between his hands as he could and let it fly. Vortex was quick to nullify it with a small burst of electricity.

"Come on!" Danny groaned as Vortex rose into the sky.

"Got any ideas?" Alan asked.

Danny shook his head. "Not really. None of our attacks are doing enough damage. Do you?"

"Yeah." Alan thrust his arm out and it looked like he was charging a normal ecto-blast. Danny watched in confusion, wondering how this attack would be any different from the others.

Above them Vortex laughed and gathered a ball of lightning above his head. He pulled his arms back, ready to throw it, when he suddenly felt weakened. The lightning faltered and the ball of energy seemed to shrink. "What?" Vortex roared.

Alan launched a huge ecto-beam, but Danny could see there was something different about it. Most ecto-attacks were solid with an aura of light. Alan's attack looked fluid. At wavered and rippled as it soared through the air, with a bright green core and a pale blue outer layer the same colour as Vortex's own lightning blasts. The beam hit Vortex square in the chest, shocking and burning him at the same time. Vortex yelled in pain until the flow of energy stopped, the center of his chest smoking and sparking. It did a lot of damage, but it wasn't enough to stop him.

"Damn it!" Alan cursed, panting heavily.

Vortex growled and took a deep breath, unleashing a strong gust of wind at the two halfa's. They both braced themselves for the attack. As the wind hit them Danny was barely able to withstand it, slipping back several inches. Alan, too drained from his earlier attack, was sent flying away. Vortex laughed victoriously and split himself in two, one of his bodies going after Alan while the other attacked Danny.

Alan stood shakily, holding his side, as Vortex reared up before him.

"For using my own powers against me, I will destroy you!" Vortex shouted. A swirl of wind lifted Alan off his feet and twin beams of electricity were fired from Vortex's eyes. The weather ghost laughed as Alan screamed in pain, writhing as the lightning coursed through him.

Suddenly Vortex was struck by a blast of yellow energy. Vlad landed in front of Alan, a strange looking device in his hands that resembled the Observants' Spectral Barometer.

Vortex thrust his hands out to shock Plasmius, but nothing happened. "What? I'm powerless! What have you done?"

"Completed step one." Vlad smirked. "Now, onto step two. Disposing of you."

Vortex growled angrily and flew to Danny, merging with the Vortex the other half was fighting. He faced Vlad.

"You! What have you done to me?"

"That was a duplicate?" Vlad exclaimed, more to himself. "No matter. I can do it again." Vlad aimed the device in his hands at the now whole Vortex, but before he could activate it, it was blasted out of his hands. The device hit the ground and the "release" button was activated. A yellow glow surrounded it, then fired randomly. The beam of energy bounced off the hood of a car, the front window of a shop, and final ricocheted off a lamp post before hitting Alan. The halfa collapsed and immediately changed back to human. Vortex cackled, destroying Vlad's device, and flew away while Danny gave chase. Once they were out of sight the rain stopped, but the sky remained cloudy and gray.

Alan stood, moving slowly and deliberately as he held his side. There were several flecks of blood on his shirt and he lifted it up to look at his wound. His stitches had been removed a couple days ago, but several scabs had been broken. He would have to get it disinfected and possibly bandaged again.

"Alan!"

He looked up to see Sam and Tucker running down the street towards him.

"You okay, man?" Tucker asked when they got near.

Alan nodded and dropped his shirt. "I'll live.

Sam sighed in relief. "You shouldn't be fighting, you're still healing."

"We saw that awesome ghost ray you shot. I've never seen anything like that! How did you do it?" Tucker asked. A clip of the blast was looping on the screen of his PDA.

"I call it my pilfer ecto-blast. I pretty much take some of the ecto-energy my enemy is using and use it on them," Alan explained. The only problem was that it took a lot of his own energy to do something so big at this point in his training. His recent injury wasn't helping much either. If they had been up against a stronger enemy, or if Danny or Vlad weren't there, Alan wasn't so positive the outcome would have been in his favour.

"Cool," Tucker said.

Sam noticed Alan wince and stepped forwards, reaching out towards him. "You feeling okay?"

"Not really." Alan shook his head.

"Not to worry! My Foley Mood Mellower will help with that!" Tucker pulled a device out of his backpack that looked almost exactly like his regular hat, only made of metal and with a pair of blacked out goggles strapped to the front. He forced the Mood Mellower on Alan's head and turned it on.

For a second all Alan saw was darkness. Then suddenly it was like he was standing the halls of Casper High. Only he wasn't surrounded by his A-list "friends," and Sam was walking towards him. He smiled for a moment, until he noticed the box in her hands and what was inside. Alan, who was deathly afraid of frogs, yanked the Mood Mellower off his head with a yelp and glared at Tucker.

"Hey!" As he shouted the temperature suddenly spiked and a flash of lightning struck the ground not too far from them.

All three teens stared at the scorched ground and intelligently uttered, "Huh?"

The temperature dropped back down as a low wind picked up.

"I lost him."

They turned to Danny, who had just touched down beside Alan and was turning back to human. "Alan, you alright?"

"I've been better." Alan shrugged. The wind stopped and the temperature went back to normal, the clouds much lighter than before.

Sam and Tucker looked at the sky, then at each other, disbelief etched onto their faces.

"I've gotta get home and deal with this," Alan said, tugging at his bloody shirt. He started to walk away, but was stopped by Sam.

"Alan, wait!" she shouted urgently.

"Hm?" Alan turned to face the scowling Goth.

"Call us nuts, but Tucker and I just saw the weather change three times in sync with your mood.

"And I know why," Vlad said as he walked up behind them.

"What did you do, Plasmius?" Danny snapped.

Vlad pointed to the remains of the device Vortex had smashed. "You see, I created a machine that could take away certain ghost powers at will. It seems it malfunctioned, and the powers stolen from Vortex's duplicate were given to you." He looked at Alan.

Alan hesitated. "I have been feeling weird ever since I was hit by that yellow beam." He winced slightly, his hand twitching towards his side, and the clouds darkened. When his pain eased the sky got brighter.

"That boy needs medical attention," Vlad said.

"You can rest at my place if you need to," Sam offered.

"Okay."

"What are you going to do, Vlad?" Danny asked when the oldest halfa started to fly. It was bad enough he got them into this mess—when did he not?—but now he was running away.

"I need to go back to Wisconsin and make another one of those machines," Vlad explained. There was a touch of annoyance in his voice, no doubt because he could see what Danny was thinking. "It will take some time until I get back, which means I have to go now." He turned and flew away, muttering to himself once he was out of earshot. "Drat. I must get those powers and make them my own."

Danny frowned as he watched Vlad leave. There was nothing more he could do here. "I'm going to find that hot head before he causes more damage to the globe." He looked at Sam and Tucker. "You two in?"

"I've always got your back, dude!" Tucker grinned and they high-fived.

"I'm going to keep an eye on Alan, just in case," Sam said.

Alan smiled and clouds thinned.

"Alright. Let's go, Tuck."

###

"So how are we even going to find Vortex?" Tucker asked as he and Danny walked to Fenton Works. "He could be anywhere on the globe."

They went to the kitchen and Danny pressed a button on the wall panel. "Two to the Ops Centre." The elevator tube dropped over them and sucked them up to the Fentons unofficial top floor. "We'll move faster in the Fenton Jet. I need you to check the Atmosphere Channel to see if we can track him down."

"You got it, man."

Danny took the pilot's seat while Tucker grabbed another chair. Outside on the Fenton Works roof, Jack was adding additional support to the beams holding up the Ops Centre. With all the strange weather that day, he wanted to make sure the technically illegal addition to their house wouldn't be carried off by hurricane force winds. He had just finished welding the final piece.

"Locked up tighter than a drum," Jack said as he shut off the Fenton Welder. "This baby won't be going anywhere for a while."

As he spoke the Ops Centre hummed and there was a great sucking sound. A giant balloon with Jack's face on it inflated on top as the entire Centre ripped free of its supports and flew away.

"Not to self, never tighten any drums," Jack said as he watched Fenton Blimp drift.

Inside the blimp Danny flicked a switch to change the aircraft into a jet. Tucker sat down at one of the consoles and started scanning the Atmosphere Channel.

"Severe weather conditions with faces are now in effect at all four corner of the globe. Our radar indicates another major storm front rapidly approaching Venice, Italy."

Danny switched the jet to autopilot and slipped out of the pilot's seat as Auto-Jack inflated from the steering column.

"This is Auto-Jack saying: Chicks dig guys who fly."

"We're setting a new course," Tucker said. "Take us to Italy!"

###

Since Alan was already heading to his place to patch himself up, he told Sam to meet him there when she could. He flew to a building not far from Casper High and phased into his apartment. Overall there was nothing special about it. There wasn't much for décor, but it had all the basic living items. A TV, a couch, and a decently stocked kitchen. There were two doors, one leading to the bathroom and the other his bedroom. Alan's room, like the rest of the apartment, was fairly plain but it was a nice place to live. He didn't need much. Alan saw his apartment as a place to sleep and do homework, and he used it for little else. He spent most of time patrolling for ghosts. When he trained, he preferred to do it outside on the various rooftops Amity Park had to offer.

He went to the bathroom first and washed his healing wound with a towel and some warm water. He prodded the area gently, deciding the blood had stopped, but it wouldn't hurt to keep a bandage on it for a few hours. He taped a square of gauze over broken portions of scab and went to his bedroom. He didn't bother turning human and just phased through his walls and dropped onto his bed. Alan laid on his back, looking at the fish tank on his dresser and the spoiled goldfish swimming around lazily inside. It had such a large home all to itself for something so small. He lied there for nearly fifteen minutes before he heard the doorbell ring.

Alan glanced through the peeper whole in his door and saw Sam standing outside. He turned intangible and shoved his head through the door. "Boo!"

Sam's eyes widened, but otherwise she didn't react. "What are you doing?"

"Aw, didn't spook you?" Alan asked dejectedly.

"You're gonna have to try harder than that," Sam said.

Alan pulled his head back through the door and opened it to let her inside.

"How are you feeling now?"

"I've been better."

"Well, let's try not to accidentally create any tsunamis or twisters," Sam joked. She looked around the room, not sure whether she was surprised or not at how bare it was. It then that she realized Alan was still a ghost. "Why are you still in your ghost form?"

"Eh." Alan shrugged. "It feels more comfortable to me and I need to stay as calm as possible." Ever since Alan awoke as a ghost, he had never felt fully comfortable whenever he was in his human form. Being a ghost felt more natural, like that's how he was supposed to be.

"I'm here to make sure that happens," Sam said, and for the next five minutes, they did absolutely nothing but stare at Alan's goldfish, who stared right back. While it meant there were no crazy weather abnormalities going on, it also wasn't something most teenagers enjoyed doing. Especially teenagers that were used to the adrenaline of ghost fighting.

"Bored?" Alan asked.

"Yeah." Sam nodded.

"Arcade?"

"Sure."

They spent the rest of the afternoon hanging out and generally having fun. They went to the arcade first, where Sam absolutely destroyed Alan on all the shooter games. He may have been great with ecto-blasts, but firing a gun was a totally different thing, and Sam had more experience handling all the Fentons' weapons. She also got a chance to show off her Doom skills on the old arcade version the game started as. After that was mini golf. It was a close game, but in the end Alan won.

The halfa was happy the whole time, which kept the sky clear and made the day nice, sunny, and warm. They eventually ended up at the park and made their way towards the playground. There were only a couple kids playing and Alan quickly claimed one of the swings, planting his feet on the gravel and swaying back and forth. "Relaxing once in awhile is refreshing." He pushed harder and released his hold on the ground so he was actually swinging. Throughout the afternoon the clouds and slowly been clearing until the sky was bright, sunny, and warm. Alan, being reliant on his ice powers and very in tune with that part of his ghost half, did not like it when it was warm. His annoyance quickly made the sky gray again. He watched the clouds start to gather, then focused on willing them away. He pictured the sun burning through the clouds until they were all gone. They didn't disappear entirely, but after a minute or two there was a bright patch of blue amidst the gray. When he saw this, Alan stopped swinging and closed his eyes.

Sam watched as he concentrated and gasped lightly as it suddenly started to snow. "Woah." She stared at the sky, holding out her hands to catch a few thick flakes.

Alan smiled at the sight. "I'm starting to get these weather powers down, I think."

###

In Venice, Vortex was standing in the midst of a raging blizzard, his hands raised to the sky as ice encased the buildings and freezing the gondolas mid-row. "My reign of terror continues!" he roared. "My power is limitless!"

The Fenton Jet cut through the blizzard and made its way to the heart of the storm. Tucker, watching pointed through the windshield at Vortex's silhouette through the haze of snow. "There he is!"

Danny turned intangible and dove through the floor of jet, his fists glowing green as he charged the giant weather ghost.

###

"So this is where you live?" Alan asked. They had left the park a good twenty minutes ago, once Alan finally managed to stop the snow from falling.

"Yeah," Sam answered casually. The opened the door as quietly as possible and peeked inside, checking to make sure her parents weren't around. It looked like they were in the clear and she beckoned Alan forwards. They made it halfway to the basement door.

"Sammykins!" a high-pitched sing song voice called from the kitchen, and Sam's brightly dressed mother peeked her head through the door. "I have a new dress for you to wear to school tomorrow." She held up a horrible pink and yellow confection that made Sam want to gag. "Oh, who's this?"

"Alan, a friend," Sam said.

Alan waved shyly. "Hi, Mrs. Manson."

Pam's eyes narrowed as she looked Alan up and down. She sniffed. "At least he's not a Fenton." Pam turned away sharply, shaking the dress threateningly towards Sam before leaving them be.

"Come on." They went down to the theater, and Sam claimed one of the plush chairs while Alan slowly took the other one. She watched him look around the room, taking in the expensive sound system and the massive TV. "My grandfather invented a couple useful things," she explained vaguely, watching Alan's reaction closely.

"That's pretty cool."

"No twenty questions?" Sam asked.

"I'm interested in my friends, not their money, Sam," Alan said.

The Goth smiled. When Tucker found out about her family's fortune, he had hundreds of questions. Most of which revolved around exactly how rich they were, and what they could afford. Danny, thankfully, only had a few questions. But it was nice for someone not to have any for once.

"You hungry at all?" Alan asked.

Sam smirked at his lack of subtlety. "I could go for a small snack. You?"

"Yup."

"I'll be right back." She got up and headed upstairs.

Alan glanced to a window near the basement ceiling. He could just see a sliver of sky over the trees and bushes lining the Manson yard. He stared at the patch of blue until it was filled with clouds, and snow once again started falling from the sky. This time it was much easier. He heard Sam coming down the stairs.

"I'm starting to get more control over these weather pow-" His concentration broke when he saw the bowl of fruit in her hands. "Apples!" He leapt forwards and snatched up a particularly red one. "Ooh, these ones are super ripe."

Sam smiled and stifled a laugh at the childish reaction.

As Alan took a bite his smiled dropped. "I haven't had an apple like this since I moved out of Discord City."

"Discord City? That's in Wisconsin, isn't it?" Sam asked. She reclaimed her seat and plucked a pear out of the bowl.

"Yup. I was raised there. After some problems with family and… stuff, we moved here."

"What happened?" Sam remembered the rumour that Alan's parents were missing.

He sunk lower in his chair and cradled the apple against his chest. "I'd rather not talk about it.

"Okay." Sam nodded. "But whenever you're comfortable with it, you can tell us."

Alan smiled thankfully.

"Sammy?"

Sam groaned and peaked over the back of her chair.

"You have a visitor, dear. Make a good impression." Pamela whisper shouted, "It's Vlad Masters!"

Sam rolled her eyes. If only her mother knew. "Do you have the device?" she asked when Vlad walked in.

"Indeed I do. But I don't think we should remove the boy's weather powers just yet."

Sam frowned and looked at Alan, who wouldn't meet Vlad's gaze. "His name's not 'the boy.'"

"Ice Cicle, then?" Vlad smirked, his eyebrow quirking.

"Alan. And what are you up to?"

"Vortex, even if weakened by my device, is still too powerful. We could use Alan's powers to defeat him.

###

Vortex was officially on Danny's list of least favourite enemies after being shocked for the fourth time. How was he supposed to fight tornadoes and snowstorms with ghost rays? He couldn't even get near the weather ghost to land a solid hit and his ecto-blasts weren't doing any damage. Danny wanted to try his ghostly wail, but he saw how useless it was when Alan did it, and the power took a lot of energy out of him. Without backup such a risky tactic could lead to his end.

"I don't think we can stop him!" Tucker shouted through the sound system of the jet. "He's way too powerful!"

Tucker winced when Danny looked back to the jet and ended up being hit by another lightning strike. "Sorry!" the techno-geek called. He was doing what he could with the jet's weapons, but that wasn't much. Most of the tech inside was meant to be handheld and used from the ground. Tucker was distracted by a loud ring and buzzing from his pocket.

He pulled his phone out and answered it. "Hey."

"Tucker. Vlad has the power sucking device. We need you two to bring Vortex back to Amity Park."

"What?" Tucker shouted. "Why?"

"Vlad has a plan. Something about using Alan's new weather powers to help defeat Vortex."

"Got it. We'll be there as soon as we can." Tucker hung up and bumped Auto-Jack out of the pilot's seat. He turned the steering column and started circling Vortex, activating the bullhorn. "Hey, Vortex! Enjoying yourself?"

"Oh, you know it! I have succeed in disrupting weather patterns all over the globe! I am the perfect storm!" Vortex roared with his wind, drifting around to keep an eye on the jet.

"All but one place. Amity Park is calm and peaceful" Tucker taunted.

Outside, Danny gaped at the jet. "What is Tucker doing?" The last thing they wanted was for Vortex to destroy their home.

"What? Surely you're mistaken!" Vortex gasped and leaned threateningly over the jet, his fingers crackling with blue electricity. "My power reaches to the ends of the Earth!"

"Not in Amity Park! The halfas scared you away!" Tucker shouted.

Vortex seethed and the sky cracked. "No one scares me!" He took a deep gasping breath and shot into the sky, presumably in the direction of Amity Park

Danny flew to the jet and phased inside. "Why'd you do that, Tucker?"

"Vlad said we're going to use Alan's weather powers against Vortex. Gotta hand it to him. Even though he's an evil fruit loop, he's got great ideas." Tucker shrugged and let Auto-Jack take control again, tailing after Vortex.

Danny glared at the floor. "But for what gain?"

###

With nothing to do but wait for Vortex to arrive, Alan and Sam stayed at the Manson mansion and playing video games on the theater quality TV. The sound effects were deafening with their all-surround IMAX system. They stopped when the thunderstorm started.

Sam and Alan ran upstairs and met Vlad in the foyer. He had managed to stick around under the guise of visiting the Manson's for business reasons. Together they burst outside and heard, rather than saw, Vortex as he emerged from the clouds.

"Where are they?!" His raspy voice echoed over the city.

Vlad turned to the teenagers by his side. "You two stay here." Black rings spread from around his waist and Vlad Plasmius flew off into the sky. He soared over the mansion and found Vortex scouring the streets. He floated up in front of the weather ghost.

"You!" Vortex cried. "Where is the other? My perfect storm will destroy all three of you!"

"He's out of commission, and I'm sure young Phantom is taking his time. I'm the only one you're going to fight," Vlad answered.

"You against me? Don't make me laugh!" Vortex's gloating cackle was interrupted as a blast from behind made him jerk forwards. He spun around and glared at an innocent looking Danny Phantom. "All of you keep popping up like roaches!"

The Fenton Jet soared underneath Vortex and touched down in front of Sam's house. Tucker darted from the advanced aircraft and ran into Sam and Alan on the front step, watching the battle.

"You've got the mood changer?" Sam asked.

"Mood Modulator," Tucker corrected her and pulled out the hat-shaped device.

"Whatever, just turn it on already."

Alan cringed as Tucker shoved the hat on his head. His cringe turned to a grimace as Paulina was suddenly in his face.

"Hi, Alan." Her voice grated on his ears, and Alan quickly became annoyed. The clouds overhead started swirling, funneling down until it touched the street to ground to form a raging tornado. It ripped down the street and headed straight for Vortex, sucking the ghost into its whirlwind and slamming him into multiple buildings over and over.

"What is going on?" Vortex roared, flailing in the wind.

On the Mood Modulator screen the image of Paulina was replaced with a frog. Alan jumped, shouting in surprise, and scrambled back. The frog, being nothing more than a computer generated image, followed. The tornado quickly dissipated and Vortex was struck by multiple bolts of lightning.

"This is not my nature!" he screamed, slashing his hands through the air to try and divert the lightning. It didn't work.

Alan, meanwhile, pulled the Modulator off his head and glared at Tucker in annoyance. Behind them a tornado roared by, Vortex caught up in its wind.

"Sorry, no more frogs," Tucker said sheepishly.

Alan nodded and set the Modulator back on his head.

"No!" Vortex shouted in protest as he spun round and round. "The elements are mine to control!" He gathered a torrent of lighting between his palms, and the air up and down the street started to heat up, crackling energy eager to be let loose.

Alan's hair stood on end as he felt the small static shocks. Quickly, he ripped the Mood Modulator off his head and threw it to Tucker, going ghost at the same time. As Vortex released the blast Alan, Danny, and Vlad generated thick ecto-domes to shield them all. When the lighting struck, the shields shook and nearly cracked. Alan winced as the force of the blast reverberated back at his outstretched arms, seeming to zero in on his wounded side and make him flinch. When the shields dropped, he flew up into the sky.

"Wait! You need the Modulator to control your emotions!" Tucker shouted, glancing warily and the tumultuous sky.

"Vortex is completely focused on me. I need to see what's happening or I'm going to be killed. Vlad, Danny," Alan shouted to the two other halfas keeping Vortex occupied, "keep Sam and Tucker safe. I'll shout if I need help."

Danny and Vlad spared a moment to glance back, but were quickly sucked back into the fight as Alan hung back a moment longer.

"Alan, you're too injured," Sam protested.

"Sam, trust me. I do have a bit of control over these powers. If worst comes to worse than I'll call for help," Alan reassured her.

"Are you sure?"

"I'll be okay, I think." He smiled. "Vlad, Danny! Protext Sam and Tucker!" Alan flew up to face Vortex.

Danny didn't want to leave him to fight on his own, but Vlad grabbed his arm and yanked him back.

"I'm intrigued," he said. "Let's not interrupt."

"Are you crazy?" Danny almost shouted. He started to pull away, but Vlad shocked him with a ghost stinger. Now pacified, Vlad easily pulled Danny away from the battlefield so it was just Alan and Vortex.

"Fool! You're too weak to defeat me, even with your stolen powers." Vortex threw and ecto-blast in Alan's direction. The halfa flew forwards, twisting around the attack. He turned invisible and intangible to fly through Vortex.

The weather ghost spun around, throwing his arms out in search of his opponent. "Where are you?" he roared.

Alan closed his eyes, pushing away the sharp twinge in his side, and started to concentrated. He pictured the clouds and the static energy jumping between them. He drew the energy to a single spot and let it build up until he could practically feel the crackling in his own veins. He pictured the bolt forming and striking down, then released.

Vortex screamed as the lighting found its mark, clashing against his back and shoulders over and over. He spun around until he saw Alan, his invisibility broken now that he was focused on the sky.

"Can he really use those abilities completely on his own?" Tucker asked, watching as Alan opened his eyes and glared at Vortex.

"I don't know," Danny said, then shouted in pain as Vlad zapped him again. "Stop doing that!"

"Then stop fussing, little badger. I think we can leave this to him" the older halfa said.

Vortex threw his arms out, whipping up a whirlwind and sending it straight at Alan. He almost got blast away again, but quickly crouched so he was closer to the ground with a lower center of gravity and fired an ice blast at Vortex's eyes, temporarily blinding him.

Vortex screamed in pain, his hands shooting up to his face.

Taking advantage of this moment, Alan concentrated again. This time focusing on the wind. He forced it to blow around and around until a twister had formed over Vortex. The weather ghost was quickly sucked up and knocked around. Alan, feeling exhausted, lost hold of the twister and the wind dissipated, leaving a dizzy Vortex in its wake.

"Awesome!" Tucker shouted.

"Yeah, but I hope he can keep this up," Sam said.

Vortex grinned as a wave of heat washed over the street, and Alan was forced to his knees. The humid air felt heavy and suffocating, and would soon sap away all of Alan's energy.

Thinking fast, Alan called on the clouds and created a hailstorm. The pellets of ice started out small but quickly grew, from marbles, to baseballs, to watermelons. The damage to the street would have been detrimental, but Alan managed to focus the attack solely on Vortex.

Standing in the entryway of a nearby business, Danny and Vlad maintained a dome of energy to shield them, and Sam and Tucker, against the weather.

"Cut. It. Out!" Vortex gasped between deep, shuddering breaths. The hail stopped, but when Vortex lifted his head, Alan wasn't anywhere in sight. "Where did-?" A familiar feeling of sudden weakness washed over him, and Vortex lurched forwards as he was hit once again by Alan's pilfer ecto-blast. This one wasn't as strong, but still managed to knock Vortex to the ground and leave him dazed and hurting.

"Plasmius, now!" Danny shouted, dropping the ecto-dome.

Vlad slammed a fist onto his barometer device and a yellow beam hit the weather ghost.

The beam didn't appear to do any harm and Vortex rose fully once he recovered. "Very clever, punks! But let's see if you can handle this!" He thrust a hand out at each halfa, but nothing happened. "What?!" Vortex gaped at his hands and thrust them out again. "No, no!"

"Sorry, Vortex. Doesn't look like world domination is on tonight's forecast," Danny snarked. He pulled out a Fenton Thermos and sucked the powerless ghost inside, slamming the cap on top.

"Alright!" Tucker cheered. "Now, let's put this crazy weather to a halt, shall we?" He typed a command onto his PDA, and Alan's surroundings changed to a recap of him and Sam hanging out that afternoon. He smiled and the sky immediately cleared.

###

Alan stretched and took a deep breath, relishing in how the weather didn't suddenly change as he did so.

"So, what are you going to do with those weather powers?" Danny asked. He was watching Vlad closely, eyeing the giant barometer in his hands.

"Just dispose of them," Vlad said, waving him off. "We can't have anyone use them for their own gain, can we?" He smirked. "If you'll need me, I'll be all the way in Wisconsin."

Danny sighed and turned his back as Vlad flew away.

"Hey, Alan. What did it feel like to have weather powers?" Tucker asked, the Mood Modulator tucked under his arm.

"It felt kind of strange. But I got the hang of some of it, I even made it snow," Alan said.

"Cool. Shame you don't have those powers anymore. But the one's you've got are pretty awesome."

Danny remembered the strange ecto-blast from earlier that day, the one Alan later told him was a "Pilfer" blast. "Think you could teach me any of those?"

Alan smiled. "Hmm...Maybe. I'm not the best with ecto-blasts myself."

"What do you mean!?" Tucker loudly responded, "Did you not see what you did with that new power?"

"Yeah but that's only one of them. Danny would mop the floor with me if it was a battle of pure ecto energy."

Sam frowned lightly, noting Alan's careful choice of words. "Couldn't you just use your ice powers?" she asked curiously

"They're a lot stronger than me ecto abilities. I don't really use them unless it's serious, or I know they're powerful enough to take the blasts," Alan explained.

"Maybe I could teach you a thing or two about ecto-energy and you can teach me some hand to hand and that one ecto-blast." Danny suggested.

"Alright, sounds good," Alan responded with a smile.

###

Together they headed back to Fenton Works, where Danny made a quick trip to the Ghost Zone to return Vortex to the Observants. As much as he didn't like those one eyed ghosts, they were the best jailers in the whole Zone. As long as they did their job, and Vlad didn't come up with anymore schemes, Vortex would stay locked up tight for a long time.

"Well, that's that," Danny said when he floated through the swirling green portal into the lab. Tucker, Sam, and Alan were waiting for him. "Vortex is back with the Observants and the weather is fine."

"Wow. This day has been crazier than usual," Sam commented. She smirked at Danny and Tucker, who were giving her a look. They knew perfectly well that Sam and Alan had spent most of the day relaxing and not chasing down an evil weather ghost.

"Still, it was pretty cool that Alan stole Vortex's thunder. Ha! Good one, huh?" Tucker beamed at his friends. Without saying anything, they walked away.

Tucker popped the Mood Modulator on his head. The sight of his friends' retreating backs was replaced with the three of them facing him and laughing heartily.

"Much better. Modern technology to the rescue again."

###

Vlad floated into the hidden lab of his mansion, carefully pondering the day's events. "Interesting how he could make it snow." He walked over to a display case and slid the door open. "Eh, I'm not that surprised.."

He set the glowing yellow barometer inside and locked the case. His reflection grinned back at him. "Step three, complete."

 **What is Vlad's plan? No one knows! Well I do..and Alison does but that's it! Be sure to stay tuned if you wanna find out yourself! Hope to see you next time and I hope you enjoyed!**


	8. Hints of the Past

**AHA! Hope you didn't fall for the April Fools Prank! Now for the REAL Episode 8! More characters? Who knows? Enjoy!**

Amity Park had a library of decent size. There were two types of people that visited it. People that loved reading, and students rushing to find resources they couldn't get online. Danny, Sam, Tucker, and Alan were the latter. Even though Alan didn't have it at the same time as the original trio, they all had English with Lancer, and he had given the same assignment to both classes.

"Thanks for helping me, guys." Alan grinned happily as they settled at a table among the furthest stacks.

"It's what friends do," Danny said. "Besides, with two of us taking care of ghosts I only miss half as much school as before."

"What about your grades?" Sam asked, giving Alan a pointed look.

He waved it off. "I'll be fine. I've seen Danny's grades, and he's gonna need all the extra time he can get."

"Dude, now you can have a solid C-plus average!" Tucker said.

Danny rolled his eyes. "Gee, thanks."

But Tucker had a point. Since Alan joined their ghost hunting crew, Danny had been able to devote a little more time to his school work. It hadn't made a big impact yet, but his last few assignments had at least been finished when he handed them in. He hadn't been a great student before ghosts came into his life, despite his sister's efforts, and once they did things had only gotten worse. But if Danny could bring himself back up to high C's, with the occasional B thrown in, he would be happy

"Alan, do you have the book Lancer assigned?" Sam asked, pulling her own copy out of her spider backpack. Tucker and Danny did the same. It was a near miracle that they had remembered the book, since it had been at the back of their minds when the bell rang.

"Which one is that?" Alan asked, leaning down to take a look at the cover.

" _Lord of the Flies_ ," Sam answered.

Alan pushed away from the table. "I'll go get it." He started walking through the nearby stacks, his finger trailing across the spines of books until he reached G section for Golding. He found the book in no time at all and reached for it, not even noticing the other hand doing the same until their fingers collided.

"Of, sorry abou-" Alan froze when he looked at the girl's face. She had blonde hair, pulled back into a ponytail through the back of her camouflage cap. Her hazel eyes were wide with shock as she looked at Alan.

Alan stared back, a similar expression on his face, as he took in the camouflage hoodie, navy blue shorts, and black fingerless gloves. His eyes dropped to her feet, already knowing he would see a pair of black boots somewhere between the style of combat and rain. She was exactly the same as he remembered.

"W-who are…?" She took another step back.

The sound of footsteps behind him made Alan turn. He only briefly looked at Danny and the others before his gaze snapped back to the girl.

"Hey, did you find the book?" Danny asked, and paused. "Uh…"

"P-Pam…?" Alan asked

There was a beat of silence, then, "Alan?"

Danny leaned towards Tucker. "What's happening?" he whispered.

"No idea," Tucker answered.

"I… I thought you were killed." The girl, Pam, spoke softly.

Behind Alan, the others visibly reacted. Their eyes widened, confusion and intrigue flashing across their faces.

"Is, is that really you, Alan?" Pam asked.

Alan nodded and took a step forwards. "I'm alive, Pam, it's me."

Pam's eyes narrowed. "If you're really Alan, tell me something only we would know."

"Tiger-lily candles at Discord Park," he said immediately.

It made no sense to Danny, Sam, and Tucker, but it obviously meant something to Pam. She rushed forwards and threw her arms around Alan. "Oh my god, it is you."

 **###**

"So who exactly was that girl yesterday?" Danny asked. He, Sam, and Tucker were walking to class.

After Alan was reunited with the girl, Pam, he apologized to them and stopped working on the project in lieu of talking to her. They were fine with being ditched, since it was obvious Alan and Pam hadn't seen each other for a while, but there were will very confused about what happened. Alan hadn't explained anything to them, and they hadn't seen him for the rest of the day.

"Someone important?" Tucker suggested.

"Thank you for the stunning contribution," Sam drawled. "It's probably been a long time since they last saw each other. Alan mentioned Discord Park, right?"

"Um, yeah." Danny nodded. "So what?"

"Discord City? Alan had to move here from somewhere, they probably grew up together," Sam explained.

Even though they had been hanging out with him recently, Alan hadn't really opened up to any of them about his life before Amity Park. Tucker didn't really care. He thought Alan was pretty cool and probably just wasn't one of those people that liked to share a lot of stuff about themselves. Danny didn't mind either. After all, they hadn't been friends for very long.

The only one really bothered by it was Sam. She didn't trust people new people easily, but she trusted Alan. He was very calm and honest, but at the same time he wasn't. Even after their day of hanging out together when Alan had his weather powers, the only thing Sam learned about him was that he liked apples, something she noticed was kind of obvious if anyone payed attention. Then there was still the whole thing with Valerie. To her it seemed like Danny and Tucker had forgotten about the incident, but she hadn't. She just hadn't asked Alan about it yet.

They got to the classroom and quickly slid into their seats.

"What about her saying she thought Alan was killed?" Danny asked, speaking quietly so no one around them could overhear.

Tucker shrugged. "I've got nothing. Sam?"

She shook her head. "I don't know. But it probably has to do with him becoming a halfa. Because I mean, technically…" She gave Danny a meaningful look that made all three of them uncomfortable. It wasn't a topic they liked to bring up whenever they didn't have to.

"We could just talk to her," Danny said, quickly changing the subject. "We don't have to bring up anything ghost related, but she's Alan's friend too, so the least we could do is get to know her.

"That sounds okay," Sam said. She looked at Tucker and smirked. "As long as Mr. Too Fine here doesn't try and get her number.

"I would never!" Tucker shouted, giving her an offended look.

"Of course you would. But since you haven't yet, that means she doesn't go to Casper, doe she?" Danny asked.

Tucker pulled out his PDA started going through a database of students from other schools, primarily girls.

"Tucker, you're a creep," Sam said, frowning in disgust.

"Hey, I'll have you know I obtained this information by _talking_ to girls. They just left as soon as they realized I was hitting on them. Here!" Tucker showed them a picture with a couple bullet points of information.

"That's not Pam," Sam said.

"No, but look here." He pointed to the third bullet. "Pam's her friend, she goes to a different school district than us."

"We'll just have to wait until after school, then. They'll probably want to hang out again." Sam started walking again, but Danny quickly stopped her with a hand on her shoulder.

"I just thought of something. You don't think Alan will tell her about his ghost half, will he?"

"Uh oh," Tucker answered.

Sam sighed. "First thing at lunch, we have to tell him _not_ to tell her about all the ghost hunting."

 **###**

Alan was biting into a shiny red apple when Danny, Sam, and Tucker arrived at their usual table at lunch.

"Hey, Ala," Tucker greeted casually.

Alan swallowed his bite and smiled. "Hi."

"The girl from yesterday, what was her name again?" Sam asked.

"Pam."

"Right. We know it's probably been a long time since you talked to her, but you can't tell her anything about you and Danny being halfa's, or about our ghost hunting.

Alan set his apple down on the table and quickly looked away. "I, uh, already told." He tugged on the collar of his shirt. "And showed her my ghost half."

"What?!" the others shouted. The beat of silence that followed their exclamation was quickly filled by a voice that annoyed all four of them.

"What are you losers doing?" Paulina asked, sauntering up behind Alan. She glared at the three non-A-listers. "I told you not to talk to Alan, you're too lame to even think about it."

"We can talk to whoever we want, witch," Sam spat.

Alan turned to face the Latina. "Paulina, go away. I mean it."

Paulina's eyes widened, then she scowled and stomped her foot. "Fine!" She spun around, her long hair smacking Alan in the face, and stormed away.

Alan turned back to the table. "I think Paulina may be the most annoying person I've ever met in my life."

"Tell me about it," Sam said, and they grinned.

"We get it, Paulina's annoying. But didn't tell Pam anything about me or the ghost hunting, did you?" Danny asked, bringing them back to what was important.

"No." Alan shook his head. "I only told her about my ghost half."

"Are you sure we can trust her?"

"I trust her with my life," Alan said seriously.

"How long have you known her?" Sam asked.

Alan smiled softly. "I've known Pam since were both only a month old. We grew up together in Discord City." His expression fell and stared sadly at the table, tracing the grain in the wood with his finger. "It's been five months since I saw her. I thought I'd never see her again.

Sam shuffled closer to Alan. "You don't have to tell us if you're not ready. But Pam said she thought you died. Does that have to do with you becoming half ghost?"

Alan nodded.

"What happened?" Sam pressed.

"Was it an accident that gave you your powers?" Danny added.

"I guess you can say that. But… I'd rather not go into detail," Alan answered.

"No problem, man," Tucker said, shooting Sam a look.

She could be really forceful sometimes, especially when there was something she wanted to know. Thankfully she understood what Tucker was trying to tell her. "Just tell us when you're comfortable with it."

Alan didn't get a chance to reply. There was a loud, like tires, and his eyes widened. He, along with most other students in the yard, looked towards the empty street a moment before smashing sound came. Crunching metal, windshields shattering, and tires skidding across asphalt. A couple people lurched in surprise while Alan was completely frozen, a look of horror etched onto his face.

"Hey, Alan, you okay?" Tucker asked, drawing Sam and Danny's attention to their friend.

"Alan?" Danny leaned across the table.

"What happened?" Sam asked, looking to Tucker. The techno geek just shrugged.

Alan looked briefly in the direction the sound had come, then jumped to his feet and dashed towards the nearest tree.

"Alan, hey!" Danny shouted, but the other halfa didn't stop. "Where is he going?"

As soon as Alan was out of sight he changed into his ghost form and turned invisible, and took off. He saw the crash immediately once he was on the street. It was just past the school, so it couldn't be seen until you hit the sidewalk. One car had crashed into a light pole, the front end between the headlights curved around the lamp. The airbags had gone off inside, but there were two people already climbing out of the car. One of them was swearing emphatically and gesturing to the front. If the vehicle was their biggest concern, then they were okay.

The other car was across the street, a little damage on the front bumper, but otherwise fine. Alan noticed there wasn't actually any broken glass. He hung in the sky, invisible, watching to make sure everyone was okay. No one appeared to be hurt too bad, and once the ambulances and police cruiser came, he quickly fled the scene.

When Alan changed back, he stayed behind the tree, leaning against its trunk. He pressed the heels of his palms against his eyes and slid down so he was sitting.

Sam heard him and motioned to Danny and Tucker to stay seated. She leaned around the tree and looked down at Alan. "Are you okay?"

The halfa nodded, taking a deep breath. "Yeah… I just…"

"If you want to talk about it, we-"

"No." Alan interrupted her, more forcefully than he meant. He glanced up apologetically. "No, please… let's not talk about it right now."

The bell rang out across the yard. Alan pushed himself up and trudged to the table, grabbing his backpack and throwing it over his shoulder. "I guess I'll see you on patrol."

Danny, Sam, and Tucker gathered their bags while Alan walked through the school's front doors.

"What just happened?" Tucker asked.

Danny shook his head. "I don't know. But if it's serious, I think we have to talk to him about it."

 **###**

Alan did wait for the others after school. He had made plans with Pam the other day and instead met up with her on a random street once class finally let out. It felt good to talk to her again. She had been his best friend for as long as he could remember, their parents had been friends first.

She wasn't the girliest. In fact, she was the most tomboyish person he knew. But when they were younger and their families would go to the park together, Alan and Pam would set up their own blanket and layout whatever snacks they had brought. Pam had liked to make candles out of mud, since it would make it like how her parents ate. She had always ripped dead leaves into strips and wrap them around the candles to make them pretty. Tiger-lily candles.

Alan hung out with Pam in the few spare hours he had before it started getting dark. He glanced up at the sky and sighed. "Hey, Pam? I have to go on patrol soon. Want me to fly you home?"

"Uh, yeah!" Pam said, her eyes sparkling. "You sure I won't just fall through you when though, right?"

Alan smiled and went ghost. "Yep, you'll be okay. Hop on!"

Alan turned around, crouching slightly so Pam could hop onto his back. She wrapped her arms around his neck and rested her chin on his shoulder, shivering slightly.

"You're, um," Pam giggled, "pretty cold."

"Yeah, sorry." Alan chuckled. He jumped into the air, and Pam shrieked. He soared high above the city, and her shout of surprise quickly changed to a whoop of excitement.

"This is so cool!" she shouted over the wind. "Pretty awesome you got ice powers, with your love of winter and all."

"Could you imagine if I got fire powers?" Alan glanced over his shoulder. "That wouldn't be very fun."

"And all things would melt around you, and your hair would be fire-like instead of being icy!" She poked Alan's frozen locks and laughed.

"And that would be so ironic to the point that it wouldn't even be funny," Alan deadpanned.

Pam's smile disagreed. She hugged him a little tighter as they flew. From the moment she though Alan was dead, her life had been miserable. Yes, she had other friends beyond Alan, but they weren't _him_. And then her family moved, which didn't help anything. She couldn't really blame her parents, but she hated them for it. Discord City was where all her memories of Alan were, and they pulled her away from there.

But the move turned out to be a blessing in disguise. If they hadn't moved, she probably never would have known he was still alive. But she had been there, she'd seen…

Pam shook her head, banishing the thoughts. Instead she closed her eyes and remembered when they were kids. He used to give her piggy-back rides all the time. He would spread his arms out and make airplane noises while Pam would be an Air Force pilot. She blushed slightly at the memory.

"Pam?" Alan's voice brought her back to reality. "You're pretty quiet back there, you alright? You of all people shouldn't be afraid of heights."

"Heeey!" Pam dragged the word out, poking Alan's cheek. "Don't be stupid.

Alan laughed, twitching away from the prod. "Hey, um… should I tell your parents?"

"That's really up to you. You remember how they are, don't you? They wouldn't make a fuss about it, and if you don't want them to tell anybody, they won't." Pam still didn't get why Alan wouldn't tell them, or anyone from back home, that he was alive. For that matter, why was he even in Amity Park? What about his family? There were so many things she wanted to ask him, but didn't. She didn't want to ruin this.

"Here we are."

Pam lived in one of the developments near the edge of the city, where people actually had houses instead of apartments. Or, in Danny and Sam's case, entire buildings. Alan landed on the front lawn and let Pam climb off his back. She jogged to her front door and rang the bell.

"Are you sure?" Alan asked.

Pam gave him a reassuring smile. They had been friends for so long, she could see every little tell on his face, and knew exactly what he was thinking. "They'll be thrilled to see you again. It's okay, Alan."

The door opened and Alan saw Pam's mom. She was a pretty woman, a couple inches shorter than her daughter, with lighter hair and darker eyes.

Alan always thought Pam looked more like her father. Despite his darker hair, they had the same colour eyes and similar faces.

"Salut chérie," Elizabeth said, her French accent thick. "Why did you ring?"

Pam nodded back towards Alan.

"Oh." Elizabeth smiled. "Hello, there. Ice Cicle, right? Were you bringing my daughter home? Thank you."

"Y-you're welcome, Mrs. Jules." Alan's eyes widened when he realized what he said. "Whoops."

"You already know us? I'm guessing Pam told you."

"N-no, I-" Alan shook his head.

"Mom, Ice Cicle has something he wants to show you and Dad. Can you let him inside?"

"Um, sure." Elizabeth nodded, holding the door open for them.

Pam's father met them in the living room.

"What do you want to show us?"

"Mom, Dad. No matter what, can you promise to keep this secret?" Pam asked. She stood in front of her parents, hands clasped behind her back. She looked like a soldier.

"Why?" Elizabeth asked.

"Mom," Pam pleaded.

Elizabeth sighed and Pam's father, Simon, nodded. "Alright."

Alan took a steadying breath and reversed the transformation. He heard Elizabeth and Simon gasp and lifted his hand to give a weak wave. "Hi?"

 **###**

Pam was finally going to officially meet Danny, Sam, and Tucker. They made plans to meet at Danny's place, since it was a good halfway point between their schools. Alan was surprised to find out Pam didn't actually know where Fenton Works was. The Fenton family was infamous, their house even more so. It was sort of hard to miss.

Alan agreed to fly over to Pam's school and show her the way.

"Hey, Alan?" Pam asked as they were walking. "I've sort of noticed something weird. Whenever you're in your human form you talk really quietly. You were never like that before, not to mention you sound sort of uncomfortable. But when you're a ghost you talk just like I remember. Why?"

"Yeah, well… ever since the accident, my human for just doesn't feel right." Alan kicked at a pebble, sending it flying out into the street. "I'm comfortable in my ghost half because it does feel right. Like that's the way it should be."

"Alan, _no_ , you can't think that- holy crap." Pam stopped they rounded the corner and Danny's house came into view. She took in the bright neon sign and the U.F.O. shape addition on the roof. "Wow, yeah, that's hard to miss."

"Danny's parents are pretty active ghost hunters," Alan said, like that was supposed to explain the building.

"Being ghost hunters doesn't mean they have to blind everyone," Pam muttered. "Have they tried to hunt you?"

"No, no yet." Alan shook his head.

"The Fentons," Pam mused. "Avoid Maddie, don't even worry about Jack, right? There's another ghost hunter, isn't there? That chick in red. Huntress or something. Have you run into her yet?"

"Oh. Yeah, we fought." Alan rubbed the back of his neck and looked at the ground sheepishly.

"What happened?"

"Don't worry, I won. She just needs to watch where she's firing."

"I'll take your word for it." Pam smirked. "How's karate?"

"Still practicing. How about you?"

"I've been practicing my shooting." Pam folded her hands together in the form of a gun and held her arms out, aiming at the Fenton Works sign. Her arms jerked like she was actually shooting. "Got a new record with my bullseyes. I picked up some of those older shooter games we used to play. I like the real thing better, it feels like cheating with all those different assists they give you."

Alan chuckled. "Oh boy, you need to face Sam in one of those games."

"Maybe I will," Pam said.

Sam and Tucker were sitting on the front steps, while Danny was leaning against the door which was cracked open just a little. Sam nudged the boys and nodded towards Alan and Pam. "They're here."

"Hi, guys," Alan greeted.

"Pam?" Danny asked as closed the door, holding his hand out.

"Danny, right?" Pam shook his hand. She looked at Sam. "If you're not Sam, then your parents gave you an unfortunate name." Her gaze briefly landed on Tucker. "For a girl I mean."

"I'm Tucker Foley, which is TF, for Too- _ow_!" Tucker flinched and rubbed his shoulder, where Sam had just jabbed him with her elbow.

Pam did not look amused. "Yeah, okay."

"Sorry about him," Sam said.

"Um, it's fine, I guess?"

"Anyone have any ideas of what we should do?" Danny asked, breaking the silence that followed Pam's uncertain statement.

She gave him a grateful smile. "Actually, Alan told me Sam's pretty good at shooter games. I challenge you to a duel!"

Sam grinned. "You're on!"

Before the boys could make a move, Sam and Pam took off down the street in the direction of the arcade.

"We should probably follow them," Tucker said. At a much slower pace, the boys stood and trailed after Sam and Pam, eventually catching up.

"So what exactly were your parents talking about?" Tucker asked.

Alan gave them a questioning look.

"At the door, I was listening to them. I couldn't do it the usual way because, you know." Danny gestured to Pam walking a few paces ahead. "But apparently there have been some ghost sightings outside Amity Park."

Sam glanced back over her shoulder. "Where?"

Danny looked at Pam and Alan before speaking. "Four different ghosts have been seen around Discord City."

As Danny expected, Pam and Alan stopped dead in their tracks and spun around to face him with amazing synchronicity.

"What?!" they shouted.

"I have to check this out," Alan said. He dove into a bush, the light of his transformation flashing briefly, until the plant shook as he took off invisibly into the air. Most likely towards Discord.

"You guys help him with ghost fighting, right?" Pam asked, and was met with surprised expressions. "Oh, come on. Danny's parents are ghost hunters? You three are pretty close friends, and I can tell Alan's getting close to you guys too. There's no way you can't know his secret. Please, Discord's my home. I've got to help too."

The trio exchanged glances, and Danny nodded.

 **###**

"Holy crap, this thing is so cool…" Pam spoke reverently. She was sitting in the back of the Specter Speeder, looking through the window at the city below. She looked at Danny in the pilot's seat. "I still think you could have let me drive."

"No way," Danny and Sam said.

"You're no fun." Pam stuck her tongue out, then quickly returned to being mesmerized by the vehicle. She practically leapt over to a control panel in the wall and started poking random buttons. On the outside of the Speeder, various weapons were extended and retracted from the hull of the ship.

As Pam distracted herself with the technological wonder that was the Specter Speeder, Danny, Sam, and Tucker talked quietly to each other up front.

"I don't think it was a good idea to bring her," Sam said.

"Relax, Sam. Alan already told Pam his secret, and she's already figured out we hunt ghosts. I mean, we don't really hide it, do we? You've pulled out Fenton weapons in front of half the school before. As long as she doesn't know my secret, we'll be fine," Danny reassured her. Honestly, he wasn't even too worried about his own secret. All of Danny's enemies knew who he was. The only reason the humans didn't was because of his fear of rejection. Pam obviously accepted Alan. If she found out he was a halfa too, it wouldn't be the biggest issue in the world.

"Plus she's hot," Tucker added, earning a sharp punch to the shoulder. "Ow!"

Sam ignored Tucker's cry of pain. "Lucky she didn't hear you."

In the back, Pam had once against settled into her seat. "This thing is so amazing. Your parents must really be geniuses."

"Yeah, they are," Danny said.

"So…" Pam swung her legs back and forth, kicking her heals against the bottom of her seat. "How long has Alan been a, what did he call it? A halfa? Do you guys know?"

"No, we don't. He's pretty uncomfortable about it whenever we ask," Sam answered.

"Oh."

It was silent again, only the hum of the aircraft filling their ears.

"So you like the Specter Speeder," Sam said to fill the emptiness.

Pam nodded. "It's beautiful."

"Why so much? I mean, it's a cool vehicle, but the novelty wears off pretty quickly. It did for us, at least."

"It's pretty similar to a jet, actually. That's why I asked if I could fly it. Those controls, they're not the exact same, but I've done some simulators and stuff. After high school, I plan on joining the Air Force," Pam explained.

"So you're a simulator nerd like Danny? He's done a bunch for space shuttles and stuff. But you know, we actually have-"

Danny quickly leaned out of his seat and slapped a hand over Sam's mouth. He smirked at her and whispered, "I want to see her reaction when she sees we have a jet."

"Yeah? What were you gonna say?" Because of the angle, Pam couldn't see Danny's hand over Sam's mouth, just that he had said something to her.

"Nothing important," Sam said.

Pam hummed and shrugged.

"We're almost at Discord," Danny announced. "I'll find someplace hidden to park so we don't cause a scene."

After flying over the city for a couple minutes, Pam pointed out an old parkade that now had locked gates. Danny parked the Speeder on the second last floor so no one could see it from the air. He jumped out of the vehicle and started unloading four scooters from a large outside compartment.

"I brought one for you too, Pam."

"Oh, thanks."

Sam, Tucker, and Pam mounted their scooters while Danny went inside the Speeder to grab something.

"Let's split up," Sam said. "Keep an eye out for the ghosts, and for Alan."

"Pam," Danny said when he remerged from the vehicle. He passed her a set of Fenton Phones. "Use these to talk to us if you find anything."

"Uh, what about weapons? If one of those ghosts sees me and they're dangerous, then I'm dead. And, you know, I really like being alive and stuff."

"Hold on." Danny ducked back into the Speeder and came out holding two ecto-pistols. He passed them to Pam. "Just don't get trigger happy."

Pam took the weapons, a little too eagerly in Danny's eyes.

"I won't," she reassured him. Danny wasn't so confident when he saw the look on her face as she checked the guns out. "Sweet."

"Let's not waste any more time," Sam said. "Time to head out."

"Copy that." Pam started up her scooter and took off first, Danny and the others following. They went down to the main floor and ducked to pass under the locked arm-gate. While the others headed off in different directions down the street, Danny drove around to the side of the building. He ditched his scooter behind a bush and took out his Fenton Phones to go ghost, so Pam wouldn't hear the noise.

Once in Phantom form, he put the Phones back in and flew off in search of his ally, and some potential enemies.

 **###**

Discord City, despite its name, was not a discordant place. The people were relatively friendly, for a bunch of strangers. It wasn't like everyone was smiling at each other like they do in the movies. Discord was too big to be that kind of place, bigger than Amity Park. But it had an atmosphere that made it seem like a pleasant place.

Sam did not miss the irony that Amity Park, a place ripe with ghostly conflict, had such a pleasant name while Discord City did not. She was sure Discord wasn't without its issues. No place was perfect, and she was looking at it as an outsider. She couldn't see all the inner workings.

Sam let out a frustrated sigh as she scanned the sky. Of course Alan couldn't wait for anyone to offer help, he just had to take off on his own. The easiest way to do this would have been to split up into groups of three, a halfa with each group.

At least they had Pam with them to help.

Sam wasn't sure what to think of Alan's friend. She liked to take her time building up her opinions of people. Until she was certain about them, she didn't like them. She had time to figure out what she thought of Alan before they became friends, though discovering he was a halfa swayed her opinion largely.

But she had only met Pam today. She seemed like a cool person so far. But like Sam already thought, she couldn't see the inner workings.

A few blocks over Tucker was having similar, yet very different thoughts. He, being less opinionated than Sam, didn't have so many thoughts on Pam. He was just excited at the opportunity to get a hot girl to like him. If Alan didn't ruin it for him. Tucker wasn't one to brag, but he liked to think he had a pretty good when it came to who liked who. After all, he was the first one to say Danny and Sam had feelings for each other. Tucker hadn't been around Pam and Alan long, but he was almost certain she liked him.

Up in the air, Danny was more focused on his search, but even he was thinking about their two newest friends. He wanted to know more about how Alan became a halfa. If there were other ways to become a halfa, maybe there were more than three of them. It was an exhilarating thought. At first Danny had been alone, a freak. Then he found Vlad, how turned out to be evil. That didn't make thing better. But now Alan was here and they were allies.

Pam could be their ally too, if Tucker didn't scare her off with his terrible flirting first.

 **###**

Across town, Pam had already found Alan. She knew all the places he would check first and had an idea of where to go the moment she split from the others. She hadn't told them yet. She only just got Alan back and even though it may have been a little bit selfish, she didn't want to share him.

Pam left the scooter Danny gave her in a convenience store parking lot and Alan took her flying again. Rather than piggybacking, they had their arms around each other's shoulders. Pam was really impressed that she wasn't falling or straining to hold herself up. Just the wonders of ghost powers, she supposed. The tingle of invisibility was interesting.

"Sure brings back memories, huh?" Pam asked.

"Yep."

Pam looked down on the town and a public fountain. The statue in the middle was poorly carved, and it was a joke amongst the kids of Discord that the figure had a face like a horse. "Hey, remember when he tried to put bubble bath in the Filly?"

Alan spotted the fountain below and laughed. "Oh, boy. Our parents did not take too kindly to that."

"Wait, look! It's your old dojo. Ah, the memories. A skinny little twig entered with a white belt, and left the same skinny little twig but with a black belt instead."

"One Above Limitations. Mom always go happy again when I passed the tests." Alan brought them down on a low rooftop next to a playground.

Pam immediately rushed to the edge and looked down on the swings, smiling fondly. "Aw, lots of childhood memories here, right Alan?" She turned around and saw a sad expression on his face. "Oh, Alan, I'm sorry."

"It's okay." Alan sighed.

"Hey, um, have you ever thought about telling anyone else you're alive? The rest of our friends, anyone in Discord?"

Alan flinched at the question, his eyes widening. "I- I…"

" _Pam, you there?_ "

Pam jumped at the sound of Sam's voice in her ear.

" _We found the ghosts, and we need help. Did you find Alan?"_

"Oh! Yes, I found him! Where are you?" she asked.

" _Uh, I don't know. There's no street sign. But we're by this place called Brain Freeze World?_ "

"Okay, we're on our way!" Pam turned to Alan, who was watching her expectantly. "The others found the ghosts. They need our help at the World."

"Alright, let's go!" Alan grabbed Pam's hand and jumped into the air.

 **###**

Danny found the ghosts first, all four of them. They were dressed like ninjas, all in black with thin scarves pulled over the lower half of their faces. There was only a little green skin visible, and they stared with unblinking red eyes.

They were excellent fighters. Danny had, unsuccessfully, been trying to challenge all four of them at the same time. The fight eventually brought them over to Tucker, and then Sam was drawn by the noise. The two non-super powered hunters tried their best to help, but the ghosts were quick and couldn't land a hit with their smaller weapons.

Danny, already bruised and battered, was thrown to the ground. Thankfully any citizens in the area had already fled. They were new to ghosts, but they weren't idiots.

Danny groaned and floated to his feet, diving at the closest ghost. It ducked under his punch, grabbing Danny's foot and pinning it to the ground. At the same time, the ghost flipped up and kicked Danny in the face, knocking him down. The ninja ghost flipped off of Danny and stood in a crouch, arms stretched out and ready to fight.

"Come on, what do you guys want anyway?" Danny asked. He received no answer.

The four ghosts moved as one, raising their arms. Beams of ecto-energy shot out, gathering into a ball above Danny's head. Before he could make a move to combat it, an ice blast flew out from a side street and hit the gathering energy. It exploded, blinding all four ghosts and Danny.

Alan grabbed Danny and dragged him back to cover where they couldn't be seen and were quickly joined by Sam and Tucker.

"You guys okay?" he asked.

"Yeah." Danny nodded slowly, rubbing the forming bruise on his chin.

"Took you long enough," Sam said.

"Seriously, please don't be late to ghost fights from now on," Tucker added.

Alan chuckled. "Yeah, sorry." He looked past the others to where the ghosts had been a moment ago. They weren't there anymore. "Uh-oh."

"What?" Danny asked, rubbing his head.

"They've split up to look for us. Oh, no, we've got to make sure Pam is okay!"

 **###**

Alan had dropped Pam off by her scooter while he went ahead. She was still a couple streets over from Brain Freeze World, and she was trying to contact them. But her Fenton Phones weren't working.

"Hello? Anyone? Damn it, this is just great." She let out a colourful string of curses. The last one was punctuated by a number of sharp screams. Pam slammed on the breaks and saw a crowd of people running down the street towards her, a ghost dressed like a ninja flying behind them. They ghost's wide eyes drifted past the fleeing crowd and settled on Pam. It soared towards her.

"I really hope these guns are good," Pam said. She stood up over the scoot, pulling out one of the ecto-pistols and aiming at the ghost. It was still twenty feet away, but flying fast. She took a breath, let it out, and then fired three times. The ghost dodged the first of the shots, the next two landed on his shoulder. It made a strange screeching noise, but didn't stop.

Pam dove from the scooter as it sent an ecto-beam in her direction. She rolled, landing in a proper crouch like she had been taught, and groaned as the scooter when up in flames. "Oh, whoops. I hope he wasn't attached to it."

The ghost landed in front of her, and Pam recognized the stance he dropped into. It was one Alan used to use before he changed it.

"At least the outfit isn't just for show," Pam mumbled. She jumped back to put some distance between them and fired again as the ghost moved to follow. She aimed for the same shoulder as before and the ghost jerked back. The next shot hit in in the waist, and the third she aimed for one of its knees.

The bullets didn't act the way Pam expected them to. She was used to real bullets that could rip a hole through a dummy. These pistols fired globs of ectoplasm and burst when they landed, but they were obviously doing damage, because the ghost flew up into the air and out of sight.

Pam lowered her gun but didn't put it away. She turned at the sound of a scooter and waved Sam over.

"I found Pam, guys!" Sam said. "We're near a street called Erb Avenue."

Something jumped out of the ground behind Sam, and Pam jerked the gun back up. "Sam, watch out!"

She pulled her trigger, and the blast flew over Sam's shoulder, blowing her hair back. Sam spun around, staring at the ghost sprawled out on the sidewalk behind her with a green splatter on its hood.

"Whoa, you're a good shot," Sam said, grinning at Pam.

"Thanks, I try." Pam grinned back, then shouted in pain as a green blast struck her in the hand. She dropped to a crouch, the pistol clattering against the sidewalk, and grabbed her wrist. Sam spun, aiming the Fenton Thermos at the ghost they thought was down, only to get that blasted out of her hand as well.

The ghost floated upright, charging an ecto-attack, and was knocked aside by a swift kick curtesy of Alan.

Sam scrambled for the dropped thermos and sucked the ghost inside.

"Hurry, guys!" Alan shouted into the Fenton Phones.

" _We didn't all grow up here!_ " Danny answered.

" _I'm, like, twelve blocks behind!_ " Tucker added.

Alan looked at the girls. Sam was holstering the Fenton Thermos and Pam was shaking out her hand. It was a little burned, but she could hold her gun okay. "I think Sam and Pam are alri-" Another ninja ghost came up from behind and kicked Alan to the ground.

All three of the remaining ghosts hovered above the street. They were soon faced by Danny Phantom, and flung a large energy disk at them. It exploded and the ghosts scattered.

"What's Phantom doing here?" Pam asked as she stared at the white haired ghost. She missed Sam's worried look.

Alan flew up to join Danny, and they hovered back to back, watching their regrouping adversaries.

"You take that one, I'll handle the other two?" Alan said, nodding towards one of the ghosts.

"Got it." Danny nodded and took off towards his opponent. He sent several blasts in the ghost's direction, though none of them landed. Like a true ninja, the ghost was fast. It didn't fly like a normal ghost but tumbled around, flipping rolling like it was solid ground. Sort of like how Alan moved. It made it very confusing for Danny. He didn't feel like he was fighting, he felt like he was flailing around hoping something would land.

He almost thought the ghost _new_ Danny was better with his ecto-powers. Every time he tried to distance himself, the ghost was only a step behind him, and he couldn't charge his energy fast enough to do any more than augment his normal physical abilities.

Alan, at least, was fairing much better. He fought like these ghosts and new exactly how to face them. He threw several blasts at his opponents to gain their attention, and wasn't surprised when they easily dodged the attacks.

Alan started the fight on the defensive, like he always did. He dodged, blocked, even took a few hits so he could learn how his opponents fought and counter properly. It was a strategy he developed when he trained at the One Above Limitations dojo. He thought Danny's method of fighting, of diving right into the battle, was a little too unpredictable for his taste.

Charging his fists with ecto-energy, Alan finally went on the offensive. He grabbed the next punch and pulled the ghost forward, driving his fist into its stomach, then spun around to throw it into the other. The ghosts collided, but one of them quickly recovered and went in for another attack. Alan only barely dodged its kicks and punches, pulling back and shifting just enough that he wouldn't get hit. He spun around, swinging his leg out to deliver a spinning hook kick.

The ghost blocked it with his arm and caught Alan's leg under its elbow. Alan twisted to pull himself loose, and found himself being flipped upside down. The ghost punched him in the face.

Alan's head jerked back, and he was distracted long enough for the second ghost to come back and punch him again. Alan briefly let go of his powers and dropped several feet, out of their reach. The ghosts fired beams of energy at him, and Alan raised a thin shield of ice to deflect them and returned fire.

He turned invisible and swooped below the ghosts to attack them from behind, punching the first and kicking away the second. At the same time, Danny went flying by after a rough roundhouse kick to the chest.

Down below, Pam was kneeling, pistol in hand, trying to get her sights on one of the ghosts. But they were moving too quickly for her to get a proper aim, and she didn't want to risk hitting Alan or Phantom.

"Sam! The thermos!" Alan shouted down.

"Right!" Sam called back. She grabbed the thermos, took off the cap, and pointed it into the sky at the ready.

Alan struck the ghost closest to him with an open palm, grabbed it by the shoulders, and threw it down to the street to be sucked up by the thermos.

The other ghost fired multiple blasts, and Alan dove towards the ground to dodge. His opponent landed across from him and charged. It lunged low, thrusting its elbow out towards Alan. Alan jumped to the left, charging his palm with energy and hit the ghost with it at point blank range. The ghost was blown away, its destination the beam of blue light coming from the thermos.

Alan paused for a moment, then jerked his fist upwards, his knuckles striking of the face of the final ghost, that had been charging up behind him. He turned around, looking down on the ghost, and Danny a little beyond that, who was on the sidewalk groaning and he rose.

Sam ran over and sucked the ghost into the thermos.

"How did…?" Danny asked as he pushed himself up.

"Haven't lost your touch, huh?" Pam smirked.

"Pam, how come you didn't contact us?" Sam asked.

"Yeah, these things are broken." Pam took out her Fenton Phones and passed them to Sam, who quickly tested them out.

"Oh."

Pam looked at Phantom, noting the tech in his ears. "So, Danny. How long have _you_ been a halfa.

"What? I don't know what you're talking about, citizen!" Danny lamely defended himself.

Pam laughed. "Wow. Then isn't it just totally weird that you have the same voice, body structure, face, and hair styles as Danny Fenton? Only differences I see are green and white."

"Uh, that _is_ a strange coincidence," Danny said, smiling weakly.

Pam plucked one of the Fenton Phones out of his ear. "And Danny has a pair of earphones just like these."

"Uh…" Danny said.

"She's got you, man," Alan said, chuckling a little.

Danny hung his head, then looked up grinning. "I think it's cheating when you already know halfas exist."

"Naw, just an unfair advantage," Pam said.

"I think that's the definition of cheating," Tucker pointed out.

"So I know your little secret. I won't tell anyone, but now what?" Pam fiddled with the pistol in her hands, toying with the safety. "Ghost hunting is pretty fun."

Danny, Sam, and Tucker shared a look, then glanced at Alan. He was smiling and gave an encouraging nod.

Danny stuck his hand out. "Welcome to Team Phantom, I guess."

Pam grinned and shook it.

 **Watcha think of Pam? Tell me in the reviews? Hope you enjoyed.**


	9. Relentless Training

**Sorry for the delay :P I had to fight a WOLF! Seriously, sorry. I hope you enjoy. WARNING! Episode 10 is going to be godly! Stay tuned for that!**

It was official. Alan Carton was no longer an A-lister. The unofficial ceremony had been held that morning before class. Dash and Paulina marched up to him, told him he was no longer allowed to sit with them, and his membership was revoked, before walking away. Alan, for his part, had only shrugged and gone back to his conversation with Sam.

Now that it was lunch time, absolutely nothing was different. He sat at his usual table outside, and waited for his usual friends.

"So, Alan," Danny said as soon as he sat down.

"Hm?" Alan glanced up from his lunch.

"Think you can help me out with fighting? You know, that hand to hand combat stuff." Danny considered himself to be an adequate fighter. Against enemies who liked to use specialized attacks, or only fought with a similar punch-and-kick style as him, he dominated. But facing the ninja ghosts in Discord forced Danny to realize a very important truth: he knew nothing about fighting.

He could fight, but that was a very different thing. Everything he learned, he learned from experience. Alan took karate and was actually taught how to fight properly. The ninja ghosts knew how to fight too, and against enemies like that he was severely lacking. But if Alan could teach him, then that could level the playing field.

"Oh, sure. You can show me a thing or two about ecto-blasts, right?" Alan asked.

"Yeah, of course."

"Alright then. I found a great place to train after school."

Danny grinned and started in on his lunch as Sam and Tucker joined the table.

"What are you guys talking about?" Sam asked as she sat down next to Alan.

"Training," Alan answered.

"Sweet! So you'll be showing Danny all those awesome karate moves?" Tucker asked

"Uh-huh." Alan nodded.

"And I'll give him some tips on ecto-blasts," Danny added.

"Dude, when you're done, you'll be the ultimate ghost fighting duo! You can combine your powers to bring down a whole army of ghosts!"

"Okay, Tucker. We get it already." Sam rolled her eyes. "Just don't go and put each other in the hospital, alright?"

Alan smiled while Danny laughed.

They were contentedly silent for a few minutes as they started eating. Tucker finished quickly, which wasn't a surprise for anyone, and he took to looking around the schoolyard. The A-listers were a couple tables over and they would occasional glance back and send an unnoticed glare Team Phantom's way. They were the only ones.

Tucker wasn't sure how many of them Alan noticed, but for the most part their schoolmates were sending the same friendly smiles his way as always. Tucker was admittedly jealous.

"You're lucky, Alan," he said.

"Why's that?" Alan asked.

Danny looked up and immediately caught on to Tucker's train of thought. "You're not an A-lister anymore, but-"

"People still like you, a lot!" Tucker interrupted.

"Normally no one pays attention to anyone who isn't an A-lister, if they're not friends. Besides you." To prove his point, Lester and Mikey waved from their spot across the yard.

"Hm. That's nice, I guess," Alan said, giving a small wave back.

"That's it?" Danny asked.

"Dude, short of being an A-lister, that's the best thing that can happen when it comes to social status at Casper!" Tucker said. "I only dream of being like that."

"I don't," Sam said immediately.

"Me neither," Alan added, a pointless statement since he already was 'like that' and had no choice in the matter.

"You two are weird," Tucker said.

"Says Mr. I Have Every Girl in Casper High On My PDA," Sam drawled, finishing the last of her salad.

"Hey! That's called being prepared," Tucker said.

Sam snorted. "For what?"

As Tucker fumbled for a response, Danny intervened. "Okay, okay. Enough you guys. Alan, you said you know a good place to train?"

"Yep." Alan nodded. "I found this field outside the city no one seems to go to. I've been training there for the past few days. After school lets out, head over there. I'm going to tell Pam to meet us. Sound good?"

"Yeah. I can't wait."

 **###**

The field Alan found was perfect. It was far enough from the city that no one would notice them unless they really looked, but the halfa's could get to anywhere they would be needed in minutes. Alan and Danny stood facing each other in their ghost forms while Sam and Tucker stood on the sidelines watching. They were decked out in ghost hunting gear and just waiting for Pam to arrive so they could go on patrol.

"Alright. Let's start with the basics," Alan said, getting into his usual defensive stance. "I need you to come at me. We're focusing on hand to hand, so no ecto-blasts."

"So we're sparring?" Danny asked.

"Don't hold back. I need to see your skill at your best."

"Alright." Danny grinned, but there was a hint of apprehension in his gaze.

"This is gonna be good," Tucker said to Sam, low enough the halfa's couldn't heart. "Who do you think is gonna win?"

"Really? After that fight with the ninja ghosts, I'm pretty sure we haven't seen Alan at his best, but he took care of them easily." Sam raised her voice. "Sorry, Danny I think Alan's got you beat!"

"Thank you for the encouragement!" Danny shouted back, then charged. He threw a punch, which Alan easily dodged, then followed up with a kick. It went on like for a number of minutes, with Danny attacking and Alan ducking out of the way.

"Hey! Are they fighting yet?" Pam shouted as she ran towards Sam and Tucker.

"Hey. Yeah, they already started," Sam said, looking back. "How'd you get here?"

Sam and Tucker had driven their scooters and abandoned them by the road, but Pam wasn't coming from that direction.

She stopped beside Sam and bent over, hands on her knees, panting. "I ran."

"What? Why?" Tucker asked.

Pam stood up straight and started stretching. "Endurance training! I'm doing great so far."

"Danny isn't." Tucker turned back to the fight and chuckled.

Danny lurched forwards, his fist swinging, as he delivered what was probably meant to be a heavy punch. Alan for his part simply swept it away and thrust his palm forwards, striking Danny in the chest. He tumbled. Fighting the urge to rely on his ecto-blasts, Danny righted himself and charged. He jumped forwards, intent on tackling Alan, but the ice halfa just turned intangible. Danny shivered, never having passed through another ghost before, and crashed to the ground as Alan chopped the back of his neck.

"Yeah, you're not going to hit me at this rate," Alan said, holding out his hand. Danny took and got to his feet, rolling his head. His neck cracked loudly.

"Ow." Danny groaned.

Sam, Tucker, and Pam approached.

"Well, you did pretty bad," Sam stated bluntly.

"Dude, you got your butt kicked," Tucker added.

"Don't forget, Alan's a black belt. He'll own you," Pam crowed.

Danny stretched his arms and cracked his knuckles. "I'm ready for a rematch."

Alan grinned while the others stepped back, and the fight started again. But it really couldn't be called a fight. Just like before, it consisted of Danny struggling not to rely on his ectoplasmic powers as he threw punches and kicks. Alan remained mostly on the defensive, analysing Danny's technique and throwing in the occasional attack before taking Danny down again.

"Aw, man." Danny groaned, lying flat on his back and staring up at the sky. Alan's face popped into his line of sight.

"Danny," Alan crossed his arms, "I'm not going to lie, I don't see how your enemies are having trouble beating you."

"Hey!" Danny shouted in protest.

"Well, come to think of it, I haven't actually seen any powerful ghosts in Amity Park yet. Oh well. Get up, I know what you can do now, and I'll show you a thing or two."

At the edge of the field, Sam, Tucker and Pam were watching.

"Danny's doomed," Pam said.

"Come on. He might be able to-"

"Sam, he's doomed."

"Yeah, he's doomed." Sam nodded.

"Alright," Alan said as Danny got to his feet. "Study what I do. A lot of ghosts seem to come at the enemy with a basic punch. Now let's practice a counter you can perform. A lot of the time you get hit because you only try to dodge rather than counter. Come at me and try and hit me with a punch."

"Okay," Danny said.

"Hey!" Pam shouted, her loud voice carrying across the field. "We're gonna go on ghost patrol!"

"Okay!" Alan shouted back, then focused on Danny. "Let's continue. Come at me."

"Here we go." Danny ran forwards and threw a punch with his right fist. Alan shifted to Danny's right, and redirected Danny's punch to the left using the back of his right fist. With his left hand he pushed Danny's shoulder back, forcing him to abruptly shift his weight and be thrown off balance.. Alan hit Danny in the chest with a roundhouse kick at an upwards angle, lifting Danny's feet off the ground and sending him back a good four feet. It all happened in the span of a few seconds.

Danny rubbed his side as he stood, probing the already sore area. He would have quite the bruise tomorrow.

"Geez, Alan. What the heck was that?" Danny had tried to observe, but it happened so quickly he didn't notice anything besides him falling forwards, then being tossed back.

"Watch me again."

Danny punched him, and the exact same thing as before happened.

"Could you actually show be what you're doing?" Danny asked from his seat on the ground.

"Sure. Stand like you're punching me."

Danny did, and Alan slowly went through the motions of the counter, explaining what he was doing as he went. "Okay. Let's see if you can pull this off. It's pretty basic, so I'm sure you can do this after a couple tries. It should help with countering other moves later on."

Danny grinned. "Let's do it."

 **###**

Sam, Tucker, and Pam had split up to patrol Amity Park. Pam had opted out of borrowing a scooter after what happened last time and decided to just run.

"Anything going on? It's all clear here," Sam said over the Fenton Phones. She patrolling the area around the school

"Same. It's like a ghost-less town here," Tucker answered, in the more residential areas of Amity Park.

"Beware of my cardboard terror!"

"Uh…" Pam was by the mall, watching the Box Ghost soar over the potential shoppers. Rather than screaming and running away like most people did when faced with a ghost, everyone seemed to be clamouring towards him, demanding shoes and food.

"There's a creepy and annoying Box Ghost here," Pam said. She hoisted her Fenton Blaster and barely needed a moment to aim before shooting him in the face. The Box Ghost shouted in surprise. "Get out of here! Okay, he flew away."

Pam watched the blue ghost zoom from the parking lot. He almost looked grateful.

"He's no threat, don't worry… But she is! Guys, Desiree's here!" Sam shouted.

"Okay, I'll be right over!" Pam started running down the street, and was smacked in the face by floating keyboard. It flew from an alley, followed by cell phones, toasters, computers, and even a washing machine. In the midst of it all was a ghost with an odd fashion sense. "Holy crap! A green ghost with a mullet just flew by!"

"Does he have a bunch of tech with him?" Tucker asked.

"Yeah. He's wearing a trench coat. He isn't the ghost of flashing or something, is he? Because that would be just… no."

"That's Technus. All tech, no flash. Or flare. Seriously, I thought Technus 2.0 was supposed to by stylish. Need any help?"

Pam stowed the blaster on a holster strapped to her back and pulled out the ecto-pistols Sam had given here for Discord. "I got this. You help Sam."

"Okay."

Pam ran after the ghost. Even though Technus was flying fast, he wasn't hard to follow. She just had to watch out for flying tech. The trail led her inside the mall to a large computer and appliance store. She shouldered her way through the fleeing crowd of mall patrons and found Technus hovering over the customer service desk.

An employee in a dark blue polo was cowering under the counter.

"You there!" Technus shouted, pointing accusingly at the pimpled teen. "Your technology is insufficient and has failed to operate in a satisfactory manner as I attempt to take down the Ghost Boy! I, Technus 2.0, master of all technology, demand answers!"

"I don't know, man, I just work here!" the employee shouted.

"That is unacceptable!" Technus shouted. He raised a hand and a number of cables were ripped from their packages, tying themselves together and wrapping around the boy. He was lifted into the air, squirming and writhing as he struggled against the cords.

Pam lifted the ecto-pistol and shot Technus' hand. The ghost jerked in surprise and spun around to face her.

"Stand down and release the citizen, or I will be forced to engage!" Pam demanded, her normal enthusiastic demeanor fading.

"What? Who are you? Where's the Ghost Boy?" Technus asked.

"I'm the girl who's gonna kick your ass if you don't stand down."

"How about, no?"

The employee dropped, thudding against the customer service counter and rolling to the floor with a sharp yelp. Pam readied her pistol, about to fire, when a wall of technology was thrown up between her and the ghost. One piece at a time, the tech slammed against the ghost's body, creating a powerful suit of armour.

"Bring it on, girlie!" Technus challenged.

Pam faltered, her gun dropping a few inches. "Well, crap."

 **###**

"I got this. You help Sam."

"Okay." Several blocks over, Tucker changed direction and started heading to the school. He wasn't sure how confident to be in Pam's skills, but Sam said she handled herself well in Discord, so he didn't think it was too bad to leave Pam to her own devices.

"Sam, how's Desiree?" Tucker asked.

"She went inside the school. Football and cheer practice just ended too. Don't look in the front stairwell, it's disturbing," Sam answered.

Tucker, being a normal human being, decided looking into the front stairwell would be the first thing he did, just because Sam told him not to. He slammed the door open and froze as he processed what he was seeing.

At first he just thought it was Kwan and Star making out. But then he noticed their eyes were wide and panicking. They weren't holding each other, they were trying to pull away, but they couldn't.

"Um, I'm just gonna..." Tucker pointed up the stairs and took a step. If it was possible, Kwan and Star's eyes widened even further. They called out to him with muffled shouts and reached forwards. Tucker danced away from their hands, unsure how much of an effect Desiree's wish grant powers would have.

"What did you guys wish for?" Tucker asked, then shook his head. "Sorry, no. I'm gonna go."

He ran up the stairs, ignoring their panicked cries. The only way to help them was to take care of Desiree, but as Tucker burst out onto the second floor beside Sam, he hunched over laughing.

"Ha! What do you think they wished for?" Tucker asked between gasps for air.

"Something juvenile about being together forever," Sam suggested. "Come on, we've got a genie to find."

"I know, but it's just…!" Tucker shouted after Sam as she headed down the hall. "Making out forever? Ha!"

 **###**

Danny was normally a pretty fast learner, he could pick up most things easily. But practice really wasn't his forte. He needed the threat of danger. Without it he just wasn't as motivated, despite really wanting to learn what Alan was teaching him.

Maybe if school came with the same risks as ghost fighting, he would have better grades.

Alan punched, and Danny succeeded in pushing his fist away so the other halfa would over reach. But he misjudged the timing of the second push, giving Alan time to headbutt him. Danny stumbled back, leaving his body open, and Alan attacked with a spinning hook kick to knock him further away. Danny foot slipped into a hole and he reeled back, but managed to plant his other foot before falling. He rubbed his head and gave Alan a stern look.

The ice ghost was not going easy on him.

"You're getting there," Alan encouraged him. "Let's try again."

Danny got into a basic defensive stance Alan had shown him, feet shoulder width apart, knees slightly bent, arms relaxed but ready. He shifted his weight from foot to foot, readying to swerve in whatever direction necessary. He remembered the first time he fought Alan and realized how much of an idiot he had been.

Danny may have had more ghost fighting experience, but Alan knew more about fighting in general. Without his ghost powers Danny was severely lacking in ability.

While Danny was lost in thought, Alan charged. This time Danny managed to smoothly follow through with the first and second pushes, making Alan stumble. Danny grinned, pleased with himself, and completely forgot about the roundhouse kick he was supposed to perform.

Alan immediately took advantage of this, twisting his body and pressing a hand to Danny's chest. He fired a point blank ecto-ray.

Danny stumbled back, lifting a hand to his chest. "Hey!" Thankfully, he had stronger endurance to average ecto-attacks and the ray did little damage, if any, besides throwing him off balance.

"You didn't finish the counter, Danny. There are quite a few options for a blow. Try the roundhouse kick for the parry. You seem to be good at those."

"Okay, I can do that," Danny said, psyching himself up.

They ran through the move again and again, and the biggest issue Danny had was his timing. He would be too eager and start moving too soon, or he would remember his previous failings and over correct, acting to late. In both circumstances he usually ended up throwing himself off, and Alan always punished him for it with an ecto-blast of a palm strike. It was annoying, but Danny appreciated that he wasn't being taken lightly.

Alan lunged, and Danny towards the same arm the other halfa was punching with. He brought up his right hand to brush Alan's punch aside with his knuckles, then shoved Alan's shoulder with his left. As Alan was forced back, Danny swung his leg up for a roundhouse kick and… passed through him.

Alan, who had turned intangible, dove through Danny to end up behind him and chopped the back of his neck.

"Ow! What the heck was that for?" Danny asked, spinning around to face Alan. "I did it correctly, didn't I?"

Alan laughed. "Sorry, I couldn't help it. Don't worry, any one of your enemies would have gotten hit by it."

Danny glared, and Alan just smiled.

"Let's practice a few more times."

They did, and Danny quickly got the hang of the move, though he still preferred learning in the moment. He tried a few variations of the parry, at Alan's instruction. With a palm strike, a punch, or a different kind of kick. But the roundhouse always got the best results.

Danny had to admit, Alan was pretty durable. Now that he was the one landing more hits, he could see Alan wincing from time to time, but not very often. Danny's kick landed under Alan's ribs, lifting him from the ground and sending him flying back.

"Awesome!" Alan said when he sat up. "I think you got it down. Anything else you want me to teach?"

"I'm good for now," Danny answered. He stretched his leg, feeling his knee crack. "You said you wanted to fight me with ecto-attacks only, right?"

"Yep!" Alan dropped into the stance Danny was quickly becoming familiar with. "Attack when you're ready."

"Already? If you say so."

Danny took a deep breath, shoving all the aches in his body out of mind, and turned invisible. As Danny flew up and around Alan so he wouldn't feel a disturbance in the air, the other halfa crouched lower and charged his fists with ectoplasm. Danny turned visible as he fired two ecto-blasts at Alan's head.

Alan turned just in time to see the attack, ducking and rolling to escape. Danny sent a series of ecto-waves after him, the green energy cascading over itself as it sped towards him. Alan back flipped away, the last energy wave striking the ground seconds after he pulled his hands away. He stood up straight, and was immediately surrounded by a ring of ectoplasm that was rapidly growing smaller. He flew up to avoid it, but was hit with an ecto-ball.

It burst apart, slamming Alan into the ground. He quickly turned intangible and sunk beneath the field.

Danny rose into the air, watching the ground and his back closely. By now he knew that Alan liked to use intangibility for sneak attacks, and wouldn't put it past him to try and attack him from behind.

Alan didn't. Instead he burst from the ground several feet away and fired an ecto-blast. Danny twisted out of its path and charged, his fist coated with ecto-energy. Alan caught his punch, combatting Danny's energy with his own, and slipped into intangibility, bursting to Danny's side. He spun around, thrusting his palm forwards to fire a point blank blast just like when Danny was training, but he didn't get the chance.

Danny hunched over slightly, then threw his arms out as a sphere of solid ectoplasm grew from his core. The repulsion field knocked Alan back and he spun through the air. Danny didn't give him time to recover, following through with several quick ecto-blasts. Each one knocked him closer to the ground, and Alan was only able to avoid the last one. He rolled, and was surprised to find himself face planting in the dirt when he did.

Danny stopped as Alan stood up, taking to his usual stance right away. The ice ghost was panting heavily, trying to catch his breath, and wiped some dirt from his nose.

Alan smiled. "Okay, now I see why your enemies are having trouble beating you."

 **###**

"Who wishes for this stuff?!" Sam shouted. She leaned around the broken locker door she was using for cover and fired at cluster of ramshackle monsters tearing through the school. Like many of Desiree's wishes gone wrong, they were a collection of ordinary everyday things turned into rabid drooling monsters.

Sam didn't understand how they could come from a simple wish. What kinds of things did her classmates think about after practice?

"People that live with ghosts!" Tucker shouted back. He had sought refuge on top of the row of lockers, and Sam had been a little impressed with the amount of dexterity he displayed when scrambling to the top. Too bad for Tucker, it turned out that hadn't been a great idea. He was out of reach from the critters closer to the ground, but he was also easily visible. They were crowding around the lockers beneath him, the taller ones jumping up and scrabbling for his shirt, his shoe, his gun, anything that was near the edge of the lockers.

Sam pulled the trigger, and a stream of ectoplasmic foam shot from her gun. The creatures that were hit shrieked as their ghostly energies were purged from their bodies, returning to normal items. One monster dropped to the floor as a simple origami swan.

"Really?" Sam asked, glaring disdainfully at the paper bird. She would never again be able to appreciate the careful art of origami, not that she had much before anyways.

Tucker pointed his blaster over the edge and fire blindly, yelping with surprise when the gun was ripped from his fingers.

Sam rolled her eyes and did what she always did, jumped to the rescue.

"Hey!" she shouted, slamming the door she was using as cover shut. Broken as it was, her excessive force caused it to fall from its hinges.

The ghosts stopped clamouring for Tucker and turned in her direction.

"Say something witty!" Tucker shouted.

"I don't know anything witty," Sam shouted back. In lieu of banter, she simply started attacking. The ghosts charged, running straight into her line of fire, and within seconds they were just a pile of junk on the floor.

"You couldn't do that before?" Tucker asked. He shimmied to the edge of the lockers, swinging his foot over, and tried to find purchase on the smooth metal doors. He couldn't, and ended up falling with a solid thud. "Ow."

"I was having fun." Sam shrugged, passing Tucker his gun, though it was little use now. The ghosts had torn into the barrel, half of it dangling from a thin wire. Tucker poked it, and it broke.

"Do you think it would work like a sawed off?" he asked.

"I think it's better if we don't find out," she answered. "But Desiree's not here anymore. And as much as I hate to say it, we should probably go help our classmates. I doubt she left them alone."

They headed to the closest set of stairs, thankfully not the front stairwell, and started towards the gym. As they neared the doors, they could hear a loud and thunderous pounding. They paused.

"You know, that sounds kind of like," the door burst open, and Tucker ducked, screaming, "dodgeball!"

The red ball bounced down the hall at an alarming speed, ricocheting off the walls, ceiling, and floor. Tucker glimpsed a twisted face as the ball shot towards him, and he shrieked as Sam's heel swept inches past his nose. She kicked the ball, sending it careening down the hall and into a classroom. There was a loud crash as it broke through a window.

"You know, I've never liked gym," Tucker said. Both amateur ghost hunters looked through the open door to the room flooded with bouncing, cackling balls. Everything from baseballs to basketballs. Tucker looked like he was about to run away, so Sam grabbed his shoulders, hauled him to his feet, and shoved him through the door. The balls seemed to freeze mid-bounce, then they all shot towards him.

"Catch!" Sam threw her Fenton Foamer to Tucker and dove in after him, slamming the door shut so no more balls could escape. While Tucker took to spraying the possessed balls, Sam ducked and dodged around them, working her way to the techno-geek. She kicked several balls away, flinching as a softball soared over her shoulder, and snatched up the broken blaster.

Despite what she said just seconds ago, Sam powered up the gun. It made an odd clicking noise she hadn't heard before, and her finger hovered over the trigger as she rolled away from a football.

"Tucker, duck!" Sam shouted.

Tucker dropped to the floor, flattening himself against it, and she fired.

As it turned out, the broken blaster did work liked a sawed off shotgun, only with a lot more kick. The ectoplasmic energy scattered, and the kickback as powerful enough that Sam was slammed against the wall.

Small balls of green energy zipped around the room, punching holes through the balls and splattering against the walls and floor. When it stopped, everything was covered in a healthy layer of green ooze, and tens of balls were lying deflated on the floor. Sam stared at the gun, her eyes wide.

"No gym tomorrow!" Tucker cheered, still flat against the floor. His entire back slick and green.

"Let's just get those idiots out, find Pam, and get after Desiree," Sam said.

"I call the girls' locker room!" Tucker jumped to his feet, running towards the change rooms.

Before he could reach it, Sam fired the broken gun again.

 **###**

Pam reasoned that she could have easily taken care of Technus if it weren't for his makeshift armour. She was running through the aisles while the ghost stomped after her. Appliances smashed into the ground at her feet, and she ducked to avoid being flattened by a printer. She spun around and fired at her foe, all three bullets hit their marks, but none of them did any perceivable damage.

Pam ducked as a toaster was sent at her head. It crashed into an aquarium display behind her and water poured onto the carpet. Why there was even water in it in the first place she wasn't certain, but watching the wet toaster spark gave her an idea. She glanced around and spotted a red lever on the wall. Pam dashed for the fire alarm and pulled, ducking under the closest desk as the bells started ringing.

The sprinklers overhead opened up and water rained down throughout the store.

"I hate water!" Technus shouted, raising his arms to protect as much of his mechanical shield as possible. The appliances spinning through air around him fizzled and dropped. Shorted out by the water, they couldn't be used by Technus anymore.

"Yes!" Pam pumped her fist, a solid plan forming in her mind. She took aimed and fired once at the plasma TV Technus was using for his face. The screen flickered, stripes of static dancing across it.

"Hey, this stuff is expensive, you know!" Technus turned in her direction, tossing the racks away.

"Then come and make me pay for it!" Pam shouted back. She darted out from her hiding place towards the front of the store, and Technus was quick to follow. She headed to the center of the mall, in the direction of the food court, and grinned when she saw the fountain.

Pam planted her feet and spun around. Technus was barreling towards her, his arms outstretched, sparking and dripping water. When he was close enough she dove forwards under his feet, came up on one knee, and emptied her ammo into the back of Technus' knee.

The appliances making the joint broke apart and Technus lurched forwards, falling bodily into the fountain. His suit crackled with electricity, the appendages twitching. When the ghostly aura surrounding the makeshift armour faded, Pam rose to her feet and approached, but kept her gun ready.

"Why you-!"

When Technus' head phased through the water, his mullet frazzled and sticking upon end, he was met with the barrel of Pam's pistol pressed against his jaw.

"Win?" Technus chuckled weakly, raising his arms in surrender.

"Yeah, I do." With one hand, Pam pulled the Fenton Thermos off her belt, flicked off the cap, and pressed the opening against Technus' head. The ghost didn't resist as he was sucked inside.

Pam re-clipped the thermos to her belt and looked around. Mostly everyone had fled the mall when Technus arrived. She lost track of the blue shirted employee after he rolled off the counter, but he was either already gone, or just as drenched as Pam was.

"Is it always like this?" Pam muttered to herself. She checked the pistol, making sure there wasn't any kind of water damage, but she wasn't exactly sure what water damage would look like on an ecto-pistol. Instead she shrugged and returned it to the holster on her hip.

"Pam!"

She looked down the mall to see Sam and Tucker running towards her, but for a moment she didn't recognize them. They were covered head to toe in green goo. It stained their skin and clothes and congealed in their hair. "What happened to you guys?"

"Tucker's gun broke," Sam explained, holding up the blaster with its shredded barrel.

"You shot me!" Tucker protested.

"With anti-ecto energy. It only hurts ghosts," Sam answered. She looked around. "Where's Technus?"

"Right here." Pam rapped her knuckles against the thermos.

"How'd you do it?"

Pam nodded towards the fountain. "Lots of water."

"Cool. We've never tried that before, good to know it works." Sam walked up to the fountain and jumped inside, dunking her head under the surface. The water was quickly tinged green as the ectoplasm was wiped from her hair and clothes.

"Did you guys catch that…Desire?" Pam asked.

"Desiree," Sam corrected her. "And no, she got away, but she leaves a pretty obvious trail."

Pam pulled the blaster from her back and cocked it. "Then let's go find her."

 **###**

"Danny, I need you to go all out against me. I need to see how powerful you are."

Danny and Alan had been sparring for some time, resorting only to ectoplasmic attacks. Danny remained on top, fighting until Alan was knocked down and allowing for a small break, but he only won by a small margin.

Alan may not have gone easy on Danny, but using ectoplasm was different than karate. It was more damaging. Danny knew the kinds of things his more powerful attacks could do and didn't want to hurt Alan.

"I am, Alan," he said.

Alan shook his head. "No, you're not."

Danny wasn't sure how the other halfa knew this. He hadn't had to face any powerful enemies lately, and since Alan came to Amity Park, Danny had yet to use his full power to fight anyone. And while it wasn't uncommon for ghost fights to get recorded, the ones where Danny truly went all out never had spectators besides those involved. Alan shouldn't know Danny was holding back, but he did.

"Um," was Danny's intelligent reply, his brain power occupied with trying to figure out this new mystery.

"If you aren't, I'll have to force you."

Danny suddenly felt weaker. He didn't recognize the sensation, but Alan's pose was familiar. He was charging a Pilfer Ecto-Blast. As Alan turned invisible, Danny dropped into a ready stance. He spun around, which proved to be the right choice of action when Alan turned visible barely a good from him.

Danny flew down as Alan fired, the vibrant and fluctuating beam soaring over his head. It didn't look as powerful as the one used against Vortex, but still could have done a lot of damage. Danny retaliated with a number of ecto-blasts, some of which Alan dodged, but others found their mark.

Alan was tossed back, but charged forwards again as soon as he was able. He came at Danny with a powerful series of martial arts moves. A roundhouse kick, a palm heel strike, a backhand punch.

"Hey!" Danny protested, slipping away from each attack.

"Use your full power, or else!" Alan shouted, delivering a spin kick that can't Danny's side. He falter, and was left open for a series of hits that continued to push him towards the ground. As Alan threw his next punch, Danny counter.

He brushed Alan's fist aside and shoved his shoulder back. But instead of using a roundhouse kick, he raised his hand and gathered a Super Ecto Blast, throwing it forwards. It hit Alan head on, sending him careening, but caught himself just before hitting the ground and managed to stay airborne. His blue skin was tinged red, his clothing burnt, and he was breathing heavily. If Danny had put more power into the attack, he could have seriously hurt Alan.

"I know you can do more," Alan said as he recovered. "Stop holding back."

"I don't want to hurt you," Danny protested.

"Don't make me say it again!" Alan held out his hands, and two glowing balls of icy formed over his palms. Danny's eyes widened, remembering what Alan said about his ice attacks. They were much more powerful than simple ectoplasm and could do a lot of damage.

Alan was fighting seriously now.

He threw the ice energy and Danny felt his body stretch as he slipped between them, snapping back into his normal form once they had passed, but Alan didn't give him a second to adjust. He was flying forwards, charging another ice blast.

"Don't hold back!" Alan shouted.

Danny glared at Alan and felt something snap. He took a deep breath, clenching his fists, and released his Ghostly Wail. The spectral soundwaves made the air ripple, the ominous moaning crushing against Alan's ears. The blast he was forming quickly changed to a shield, but it cracked almost immediately and shattered. Alan was sent flying, smashed into the ground, and wave after wave of energy rolled over him.

Danny slumped as the attack came to an end. His energy drained, he dropped to the ground and turned human, catching his breath. It didn't take long for him to realize what he had done, and for the panic to set in. He ran to Alan, going ghost when he was halfway there and flying forwards as fast as he could.

Alan was in the middle of a small crater, his body pressed into the ground.

Danny's breath hitched. He hadn't even used full power. "Alan! You okay?"

Alan groaned, shifting, and slowly sat up. He brought a hand to his head. The whole world was spinning and his body ached. He could feel his bruises forming. "Woah. That was a doozy."

Danny relaxed when he saw that Alan was, well, not fine, but not horribly injured. "Geez, just how tough are you?"

Alan smiled. "I'm actually pretty durable, but at a price. I can't heal like you or other ghosts can outside the Ghost Zone.

"That actually explains a lot." Danny stood and helped Alan to his feet. "Like why your wound from the Fright Knight took so long to heal."

"Yeah." Alan nodded. "I think I actually learned something. I've got a new technique I want to show you. I came up with something new during out fight. But, after we help out friends with ghost patrol. I get the feeling they need help."

 **###**

Sam was right. Desiree left a very easy to follow trail, full of mayhem, interesting monsters, and people running screaming from the greatest wish gone wrong. Pam's movements were systematic and precise. She would dart between mailboxes, parked cars, and lamp posts, crouching down and shooting anything ghostly that moved.

Sam and Tucker took a more direct approach, running down the street and pausing to fire in the middle of the street. It made most of the ghosts focus on them, which actually made Pam's task easier. But after a minute or two, she admitted to herself it was poor strategy. They could be more efficient if all used the same strategy.

Pam ran out from behind her cover, dashing across the road, and grabbed Tucker. She pulled him to the sidewalk and pushed him behind a car.

"Use cover, you'll get attacked less," she said, looking over the hood of the car. Sam was staring after them, cocking one eyebrow. Pam jerked her head to the other side of the street, and that's all the goth needed. Sam took Pam's place behind her first hiding spot.

Pam started working her way down the street, and the others followed her lead. Team Phantom moved quickly and efficiently, the fight lacking its usual chaos and carrying on with almost military-like precision.

A high, clear laugh carried down the street.

"Alley!" Pam shouted, diving between the nearest buildings. Sam was still across the street, and Tucker was trailing a building behind. Pam peered around the corner and observed the ghost that must have been Desiree.

She was green skinned, with long black hair and red eyes. Instead of legs she had a wavering ghostly tail, and was dressed like every teenage boy's mental image of a female genie. She was zapping bushes, cars, lamp posts, anything that was close to her and turning them into monsters.

Pam's instincts were telling her to stay hidden, stay silent, and catch Desiree while she was distracted. Pam had a clear shot. All she had to do was signal to Sam or Tucker to ready their thermoses, then when Desiree was distracted she could fire.

"I wish-!"

"No!"

Pam flinched as Desire zoomed past her alley, throwing a blob of ectoplasm in Sam's direction. It spread and molded to Sam's face. Her hands jerked up and she tried to pull the ectoplasm from her mouth, but nothing happened.

"I will not be granting any of your wishes," Desiree hissed. Then she spun around and hit Tucker with the same attack. Desiree's hair flowed around her as she cackled. "Good luck stopping me now."

Pam rolled from her hiding spot just before Desiree made her escape, trailing the ghost with her gun and firing blast after blast from her ecto-pistol. Desiree was gone before Pam could see what kind of damage she did, but she had no doubts that her shots landed. Pam lowered her gun and frowned.

"What was that?" she shouted. "We could have taken her out without her ever seeing us!" She marched into the street, glaring at Sam and Tucker. Sam didn't bother trying to talk, but made several motions with her hands that Pam didn't understand.

Tucker was mumbling, possibly shouting, into his ectoplasmic gag.

"I can't understand you," Pam deadpanned, and her voice turned serious.. "We need to find Desiree again."

Sam rolled her eyes, but pointed to Pam's gun and gave a thumbs up.

"Thanks. I've been going to ranges as long as Alan's been in karate," Pam said, and Tucker's mumbles took on a suggestive tone. He was leaning uncomfortable close, and Pam turned on him. Her expression darkened and she glared at him.

Tucker's eyes widened and he took a step back, clutching his gun to his chest. The inflection of his next words sounded pleasantly like "I'm sorry," to Pam's ears.

"You better be," she muttered. "It's time to move out. Desiree is getting farther away, which means we need to abandon stealth tactics. Let's go!"

Pam started jogging down the street. Sam and Tucker shared a look and shrugged before following.

 **###**

Danny and Alan decided to search for their friends while in human form to help regain their energy. It made searching for the others a much longer task, but also gave them a much needed break.

"Ow," Alan moaned.

Danny smirked. "I told you I didn't want to go all out."

"I can deal with it. I'm used to carrying a few bruises and cuts on a daily basis."

"Yeah, I know what that's like." It was almost a requirement for being a ghost hunter, not to mention a halfa. Sam and Tucker had gotten their share of scrapes and bruises since freshman year, but Danny was always the one in the direct line of fire. Now Alan was too, though both halfa's preferred it that way. "Where are they?"

Just as Danny finished his question, Desiree soared over their heads. Both halfas looked up, then turned to see Sam, Tucker, and Pam running towards them. Sam and Tucker had ectoplasm covering their mouths.

"Yo! We could use your help over here!" Pam called as they caught up. "Also, how was training?"

"It was a pretty-"

"We'll talk later!" Alan interrupted. He grabbed Danny's shoulder and turned him towards Desiree.

"Right," Danny said. "I'm going ghost!"

The halfas changed form, Danny's white rings splitting from his chest, and Alan's ring of electricity rising from his feet.

Alan looked over his shoulder at their friends. "I need a ghost thermos."

Tucker mumbled something, his words muffled by the ectoplasm, and he tossed a Fenton Thermos in Alan's direction.

Alan was about to charge forward when Danny stopped him.

"Wait a minute." He had a serious and somewhat worrying expression on his face. "How come you don't have a catchphrase when you transform?"

Alan blinked, his hand jerking as he twisted the cap off the thermos. "Not the time, Danny."

"but seriously, almost every ghost has a catchphrase. Even the Box Ghost."

Tucker was nodding solemnly, mumbling into the ectoplasm. His eyes lit up and pointed at Alan accusingly.

"What does that mean?" Pam asked.

"He says we should make one up," Danny translated.

"Seriously?"

"Guys, come on, we need to focus on-"

Tucker held up his hand, cutting Sam off. He and Danny were leaning towards each other, Tucker speaking incoherently, and Danny nodding seriously. Apparently he could understand everything his best friend was saying.

"No, not that one... I think that one's already taken… It's too close to mine."

Alan gave the two boys an exasperated look while Sam rolled her eyes and Pam dropped her face into her palms.

"You done?" she asked when they were silent for longer than two seconds.

"Catchphrases leave you wide open and are a waste of time," Alan said, rejecting any of Tucker's ideas before he even knew them.

Tucker sighed heavily. While they couldn't hear his words, his tone sounded dejected, and Danny immediately glared at him, slapping a hand over his already covered mouth.

"Umf?" Tucker asked, and the others were immediately curious about what he said.

They got their answer when Desiree appeared above their heads in a puff of smoke. She was looking at Tucker and grinning widely. "So you have wished it, so shall it-"

Alan punched her in the face before she could finish, throwing her down the street. He jumped into the air and flew faster than she fell, quickly getting behind her and activating the thermos.

"Noooooo!" Desiree cried dramatically as she was sucked inside. Alan slammed the lid shut when the light faded, and the moment he did the ectoplasm on Sam and Tucker's mouths disappeared, and the ghostly wishes up and down the street popped back to normal.

"Did he just…?" Tucker asked.

"Yep." Sam nodded.

"And she…?"

"Uh-huh," Danny said.

"No wishes?"

"Nope," Sam and Danny chorused.

"Aw, man." Tucker's shoulder slumped and he rubbed his mouth. The ectoplasm had burned a little.

"Good." Pam huffed and crossed her arms. "That damn wishing ghost is a fricking pain."

"What I want to know is why he," Sam jabbed her thumb at Danny, "didn't think of that earlier."

Danny shrugged and smiled. "I'm a C student, what'd you expect?"

Alan had flown back to the group and displayed the thermos. It was shaking slightly as Desiree thrashed around inside. "See?"

"Okay, okay. No catchphrases for you," Danny conceded.

Alan smirked. "Here, Tucker." He tossed the thermos to the techno-geek. "I have a new technique I have to show you. Back to the field we go."

"Oh, joy," Danny said.

"He's not making this easy on you, is he?" Pam asked, and Danny could hear the amusement in her voice.

"Nope."

 **###**

They were poised just like when they first started, Danny and Alan facing each other, and the rest of Team Phantom watching from the sidelines.

"So what's this new technique? Is it a power or a combat move?" Danny asked.

Alan answered by coating his fists in ectoplasmic energy, but it wasn't the normal power augmentation. His fists turned a light blue and ice grew around his hands, a misty glow appearing while it formed. The ice stopped at his wrist so only his fist was coated.

"Woah," Tucker said.

"I thought his ice powers were too dangerous?" Sam asked, a worried expression on her face.

"Let's wait and see what he'll do. We can trust him," Pam said.

Alan had made a quick pit stop to his apartment before meeting the others, and as he reached behind his back, they discovered what he had gone there for. The halfa pulled out a ghost sword. An average weapon, but certainly one he had no use for.

"Here, Danny. Catch." Alan threw the sword and Danny easily caught it. He stared at the green blade. "It's the same kind of sword the Fright Knight almost killed me with. Try and hit me with it."

Danny's gaze snapped up. "What?! Alan, that's too far!"

Alan shook his head. "Trust me."

Danny hesitated, but in the end his hands curled around the grip, and he took a deep breath. He brought the sword down by his hip and charged.

"Dude, I can't look," Tucker said, throwing his hands over his eyes, though he ended up peeking through his fingers.

Pam worried her lip as she watched and Sam battled with the desire to jump in Danny's path, because this was stupid and Alan was going to get himself killed.

Danny brought the sword up as he approached and swung downwards. At the same time, Alan thrust his ice coated hand forwards. The sword struck Alan's fist and shattered on impact.

"Dude!" Tucker shouted, dropping his hands.

Alan spun, hitting Danny with a palm strike. There was a small blue explosion on impact and Danny was blown back. He lay sprawled on the ground, inwardly panicking that he couldn't feel anything because that's how badly he was injured. But then the light ache in his chest came, and he sat up to realize he was relatively unharmed.

"I'm okay?" Danny asked, patting his chest.

"Throw an ecto-blast at me," Alan requested.

"Uh…" Danny looked at the others, then complied. Alan's fist jerked and he deflect the blast upwards. "What?"

Alan chuckled. "Now I have an ice power that I can safely use. It's tough, and I can deflect ecto-blasts without them exploding on impact."

"That was awesome!" Tucker cheered, throwing his hands in the air.

"Cool power," Sam conceded. "How much stronger is Alan going to get?"

Pam smirked "I have a feeling he's only beginning to scratch the surface."

 **What do ya guys think of Pam so far? Tell me in the reviews? Next episode: April 29/30th.**


	10. Update!

Sorry, everyone. New Danny Phantom will not be uploaded on here anymore. The fan fiction is gone...but not the story! Follow me on DeviantArt (SGTSector) to keep up to date with the up coming New Danny Phantom Comic! It hasn't started quite yet but it's getting there! Hope to see you there!


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